The Secrets Of The Life I'm Guilty Of
by BonesPixi
Summary: What happens if JJ didn't run after Will at the end of In Heat. And years later a case brings them back together, but now JJ has a huge secret named Henry. Please R&R
1. Chapter 1

**I hope you enjoy this story, as i very much enjoyed writing it.**

**This story has been edited since it was uploaded.**

"_You'd make a cute couple," Emily said to her friend and they watched the New Orleans detective leave the station._

"_No…We wouldn't," JJ said as she walked away in the opposite direction._

…

"_I'm pregnant," JJ said. Emily was the first person she had shared her unexpected news with._

"_What? How?" Emily asked surprised._

"_Ah…the normal way," JJ answered not really knowing what Emily was trying to ask._

"_No, I mean, who's the father?"_

"_A guy I was dating. But we broke up before I found out."_

"_Are you going to tell him?" Emily asked._

"_I don't know."_

…

**6 years later**

…

"Jennifer Jareau?" She said answering the call.

"Hi, it's William LaMontagne. I don't know if you remember me but-," She didn't even need to hear his name, his southern drawl was hard to forget.

"Will. Of course I remember you."

"That's good I guess."

"Why are you calling?" She asked. They hadn't spoken since Miami six years ago.

"Are you still with the FBI?"

"I am."

"The BAU?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Well a couple of years back I transferred to the MPD, got a promotion, you know but that doesn't matter. We got these cases. A half dozen or so. And I believe they're connected. But another detective doesn't. And I don't want to call the BAU in if it's not a BAU case. So I was wondering if you and your team could look at them, but without letting anyone know you're looking into it."

"Ah sure, I guess. Just send through the files and-"

"That's the problem. I only have access to half the files."

"Will, we can't properly analyse the case if we don't have all the files."

"Well what about your tech girl, if she's still there of course, but couldn't she be able to get into our database unnoticed or something?"

"We don't hack into other agencies."

"It was just a thought. But I don't know what to do. This guy won't give me access to his reports and I can't not do anything."

"Look, I can talk to Hotch, and maybe he'll be okay with what you've got."

"Thanks JJ."

"I'll call you back after I've talked to him," JJ said hanging up the call. She didn't move for a while. She couldn't believe who she had just spoken to. She looked at the framed photo of Henry on her desk, and hoped the fact that she hadn't informed Will about the pregnancy wouldn't harm their son.

…

"Hotch," JJ said knocking on her boss' door, not waiting for an answer, she walked in.

"We have a case?" He asked upon seeing the media liaison in his office.

"Uh maybe. Do you remember Detective LaMontagne?" JJ asked but Hotch's face said 'who?' "He worked two cases with us. One in New Orleans in 2007 and then in Miami a year later."

"Ah yes. Why?" he asked once he remembered the detective.

"He lives in D.C. now, and he's got a case he believes is serial, but the other detectives don't. So he's only got access to half the files because of it, and he wants us to look into it, but to keep it on the down low," JJ explained.

Hotch went silent, thinking it over. "Without all the files its makes it harder but we've worked with less. But from what I remember he was a good detective, so tell him to bring what he has to the Bureau and we'll take a look for him."

"You want him to come here?" JJ asked. She wasn't sure if she was ready for that.

"That's what I just said."

"Today? Tomorrow? Next week?"

"We don't have a case right now. So today would work."

"Today," she repeated. She would have to come to terms with seeing Will faster than she thought.

"JJ, is everything alright?"

"What? Yeah, why wouldn't it be? It'll be good to see him again," she lied, though she didn't think she was all that convincing. "I'll go call him now."

…

JJ sat back at her desk. When the day started she had no idea this was how it was going to go. She never imagined hearing from Will again, not after this long. And she never thought she would be seeing him. She thought about him far more often than she ever would care to admit. Henry had favoured to look more like her, but she could see a little bit of Will every once in a while.

She hoped she wouldn't have to see much of him while he was here because she didn't know if she would be able to keep Henry a secret.

"Yeah?" JJ said as she answered her cell phone. She had saved Will's number after their last call.

"Hey, I'm here. But they say I need a visitors pass to go up, and I need someone to verify the visitors pass."

"Okay, just give me a minute," JJ said hanging up, and then called Anderson to go down and get him.

…

"Detective LaMontagne?" Anderson called out when he got to the foyer.

"Yeah, that's me," Will said walking over to the man who had just called his name. He was sure JJ said she'd come and get him, but maybe he heard her wrong.

"I'm Agent Anderson, I'll take you up to the BAU offices."

"Nice to meet you," Will said holding out his hand as they walked to the elevator.

…

"JJ," Anderson knocked on her office door and was surprised to see her standing at a filing cabinet close by. "Detective LaMontagne."

"Thanks Grant," she said as Will walked in. This was the first time they had seen each other since they parted ways in Miami six years ago.

They waited until Anderson had left before either of them spoke.

"It's good seeing you, JJ," Will said as they stepped in for a hug. She thought they probably lingered for a little too long for a regular hug, but neither of them seemed to want to pull away.

"It's good to see you too," JJ said as they pulled away from the embrace.

"So this is your office," Will said as he started to walk around the room. When they were dating he had always wondered what the room she had called a second home looked like, now he couldn't believe he was seeing it and seeing her.

"How about I give you a tour of the BAU and reintroduce you to everyone," JJ suggested frantically, as she step to block Will from getting behind her desk, she didn't want Will seeing the picture of Henry and herself.

They walked together silently until they reached the glass doors. "So this is the bullpen, it's basically the profilers' office. There's a kitchen over there," she said pointing off to the distance. "And Hotch's, Rossi's, and Morgan's offices are this way," she continued as they walked in that direction.

Upon reaching Hotch's office she opened the door and let themselves enter without knocking. "Hotch. Detective LaMontagne."

"It's good to see you again," Will said walking to the desk and holding out his hand which Hotch took.

"Yes, you too. Please take a seat," he motioned.

"I'll wait outside," JJ said and she closed the door behind her.

"JJ, was that William LaMontagne?" Emily asked, coming up to the rails and looking up to her friend.

"You have a good memory," JJ said surprised.

"Well, you know me, always remember the hot ones," she joked and JJ laughed somewhat awkwardly. _No one _knew that Will was Henry's father. "What's he doing here?"

"Needs help with a case."

"Well obviously, I meant here, in the BAU."

"It's a long story."

"JJ," Will said as he opened the door to Hotch's office. "Can you come back in here?"

"Sure," JJ said as she tapped on the rail, kind of a goodbye to Emily. "So?" she asked after walking back in.

"I have to go back into the precinct," Will said. "But I have the day off tomorrow, so I'll be coming back in for the day."

"So tomorrow we'll have the team working through these cases, and I'll get you and Will working on the cases we don't have. I think I remember you two worked well together," Hotch said, and JJ smiled and pretended that what he just said didn't send her mind and stomach spinning.

"Sounds like a plan," Will said. "But I best be getting back."

"I'll walk you out," JJ offered. They walked silently until they were out of the bullpen and heading to the elevator. "Did you tell him about us?"

"What? No," he answered as she pushed the elevator button.

"Well, what did you say?"

"We talked about the case, then my phone rang saying I was needed back at the station, then we called you back in. You were out of the room for a minute," he explained as the elevator opened up. "See you tomorrow," he waved as he got in.

"Will", JJ, called as the doors started to close.

"Yeah?" He asked holding the door open

"Can you please just keep the fact that we had a relationship quiet?"

"Just like old times," he said as the doors began to close again.


	2. Chapter 2

JJ couldn't sleep at all that night, her mind stayed on Will as she tossed and turned. She hadn't been this restless in a long time. Before she knew it, the alarm was going off and she had to get up and get Henry ready for school, and get ready for work herself.

It was a long morning. Henry didn't particularly want to wake up and get ready, and JJ was functioning on even less sleep than normal. But after a little bit of teamwork, they were dressed, fed and ready for the day. And only ten minutes behind schedule.

JJ walked into the elevator, but as the doors were closing a hand jumped in and the doors reopened. "Will," JJ greeted, surprised to see he was on the other end of the hand.

"Hey, you're in late," he said as the elevator doors closed again.

"No I'm not," JJ said after looking at her watch. The traffic to get Henry to school hadn't been bad, and she arrived at the Bureau no later than usual. "And how would you even know?" She asked sarcastically.

"Just remember you starting at the crack of dawn."

"Yeah I used to, but not for a while now," even though she still did technically start pretty much as soon as the sun was up to get both her 5 year old and herself ready for the day ahead.

"Why's that?"

"My department grew, and I got a couple of assistants to take on some of the extra work load," she said as she adjusted he bag strap that had slipped off her shoulder. She was telling the truth, she just omitted the real reason.

They walked to the bullpen. Will was going back to talk to Hotch, and JJ headed to the kitchen knowing she wouldn't make it through the day without another cup of 'pick me up' or ten.

"You look tired," Emily said seeing her friend come to her desk with a cup of coffee in hand.

"You know that's not a compliment, right?" JJ joked, but she knew Emily didn't mean it unkindly.

"Why are you tired?" Emily asked hoping nothing major was wrong with either JJ or Henry.

"Didn't get much sleep last night. Plus this morning Henry didn't want to get out of bed, which, well neither did I. So we had to rush to get out the door on time," JJ explained. Little did she know that Will had finished speaking with Hotch and had overheard. Will was a little thrown to hear JJ was dating someone. He knew there was very little likelihood that anything would happen between them and wasn't all that surprised that she was with someone. She was a catch. He knew that the moment they met and hadn't been happier than when they were dating. He knew it wouldn't take long for her to find someone else. He walked away not wanting to hear more about the guy she was seeing.

"He didn't want to go to school?"

"I think he just wanted it to be the weekend all ready."

"Just wants to spend time with his Mom. I've always said he is a Momma's boy after all."

"And if this doesn't turn into a huge case then he already has our weekend planned out us."

"I swear that kid is older than five."

"Tell me about it," JJ really didn't like thinking of Henry as anything other than her little baby boy, but she knew he was passed his age in maturity and even intelligence. She was fairly certain she could put that towards Spence being one of the backup babysitters.

"So what's he got planned?"

"Well, we're starting with our weekend morning run around the park, in which he'll be riding his bike, then playing on the playground. Then we'll be heading into the city so he can see the dinosaurs again." JJ saw Will, Hotch and the rest of the team coming into earshot out of the corner of her eye, so she tried to make it not so obvious she was talking about Henry. "And then Sunday we'll be going to a movie and then we'll see where the day takes us."

Will overheard the plans JJ had for her Sunday. Although she didn't use personal pronouns he knew she was probably talking about that Henry guy, it must have been serious if she had told her friends about him. They had been dating for a year fairly seriously and even after seven years they still didn't now they had. And while he didn't want to admit it, he was somewhat jealous.

"We all know the plan of attack for the day, so let's stop wasting time and get on with it," Hotch said as everyone gathered around. There was no point meeting in the conference room for this one.

Hotch handed out Will's case files to the rest of the team while Will followed JJ to her office to work on the other half of the case.

"So did you have any luck getting hold of some of the other case files?" JJ asked as the got to her office. She was determined to not get off task while he was here.

"No luck. He takes most of his reports home with him at night."

"That makes it a little harder, but I do think I have a way around it," she said taking a seat behind her desk. She had placed the photo of Henry and herself in the drawer of her desk, she knew Will was going to be working in here today and she really didn't want him seeing it and asking questions.

"Really? How?" He asked taking a seat as well.

"You'll describe all the cases in as much detail as possible."

"I don't know how much I'll remember, I haven't worked the cases. And some I only heard rumours about round the station. Like water cooler talk."

"Anything will help."

"What's the next step after that?"

"I have some friends at some local newspapers who owe me a couple of favours, see if they heard anything about them and see what they've got."

"Is that wise? Bringing the media in?"

"I know how to work the media Will, they won't leak anything we don't want leaked. They wouldn't do that to me."

"You trust them a damn lot."

"They need me. I'm their scoop, their headline, their livelihood. They wouldn't do anything to jeopardise that."

...

When JJ had started calling her local contacts Will didn't feel needed, so he decided to check what the others had profiled about the cases they actually had, and maybe get something to tide him over.

Emily and Morgan had gone out to investigate, while Hotch, Rossi, and Reid were working on a profile. Will could see they were quite into it so he decided to not disturb them and just grab something to eat instead.

After asking someone where to buy some lunch and being informed it was on level two he took the elevator down and brought two sandwiches and two bottles of water.

"I didn't know what you liked, so I played it safe and got you a Chicken BLT, I don't know why but when I was ordering, I remembered you ordering it once, but I could be confusing you with someone else."

"No, it was probably me," she laughed, this was pretty much her usual. "Thank you," she said as he handed her the paper bag it was in and the plastic bottle.

"So, you find anything new?" He asked as JJ unwrapped the sandwich and placed it in front of the computer, so she could nibble at it as she read.

"Yeah, a couple of things actually. I printed out a few articles you should read," she explained and pointed to the printer.

Will went over to the printer and took out the ten or so warm pieces of paper, and then took his seat and began reading them over.

"So are you with someone?" Will asked, after they had been silently reading for a couple of minutes. JJ thought it was out of nowhere. Though he thought he already knew the answer, he just wanted to hear her say it.

"We're working," JJ said trying to ignore the question.

"I can't ask?"

"No, I'm not," she answered.

"You're not married?"

"I'm not even in a relationship," she said. This job and Henry were enough for her at this point in time.

"Are you lying to me?"

"Can we get back to work please?" She pleaded wanting this line of questioning to stop.

"We can take a break," he said noticing she dodged his question.

"Fine," she said letting her pen fall out of her hand. "I can't see a ring on your finger, so I'm guessing you're not married either."

"I'm not."

"Are you with anyone?"

"Nothing serious for a while."

"Okay, so now that we both know we aren't in relationships, can we _please_ get back to work? Because I need to be out of here before five."

"Why? Hot date?"

"Oh my god," she exclaimed. "Who I'm dating and if I am dating is none of your business anymore. I'm not prying into your life, please stop prying into mine."

"Fine. Just one more question, cause I think you're lying to me."

"What?" JJ sighed.

"Who's Henry, and why didn't he want to get out of bed this morning?"


	3. Chapter 3

"_Who's Henry, and why didn't he want to get out of bed this morning?"_

JJ didn't know what to say. How did he know about Henry? She couldn't imagine any of the team sharing anything about her son to a man who was nothing more than an old acquaintance to them. But then she played back his words and 'why didn't he want to get out of bed' told her exactly who told him about Henry. "You overheard Emily's and my conversation this morning?" She couldn't believe the cat was already out of the bag. It had been a day.

"Yeah. So who's Henry?" He asked again.

"If you heard, than you already know," JJ replied a little confused.

"Well I only heard the beginning and the end, didn't really want to hear about you and your boyfriend."

"Boyfriend?" JJ asked a little amused for two reasons. Will really had no idea who Henry was, and he was a little jealous. "Henry's the love of my life, but he's a little too young for me," and a little too related, she thought.

"What do you mean?" If they weren't dating why would he be at her place in the morning?

JJ took a deep breath, she wasn't really sure if she was ready to tell him, but she didn't know how she could get out of not telling him. "Henry's my son."

"Your son? You have a kid?" Will was dumbfounded.

"Yeah," she confirmed as she took the photo frame out the drawer and handed it to him.

"He's cute," he said looking over the photo. "You look different, so I'm guessing it's an old photo. How old is he?" Will was fairly certain he wasn't the father. He didn't think JJ would keep something this huge from him, for this long.

"Well in the photo he's one, but he's _four_ now," JJ lied, she knew Will would do the maths if he knew Henry's real age.

"He really looks like his Momma," he smiled as he handed the frame back, and JJ placed it back on her desk where it normally stood.

"Even more so now."

"You really moved on with your life, didn't you?"

"I guess," she said smiling down at the photo. "So he's the reason I need to be out of here by five, so can we please get back to work now?"

"Sure thing."

…

Once Will knew about Henry the pit in JJ's stomach had somewhat disappeared. Though he still didn't know the whole truth, he didn't seem to suspect anything, so JJ felt she could be a little more open with him and less hostile.

Conversation came a little easier, it drifted from work to personal life with little effort, though JJ still had a few barriers up. Right now reminded her of times before they broke up when they would sit on her sofa while she worked through some files and he watched TV. It was simple. It was blissful. It was back before everything got so complicated.

"Can I ask you a question," Will asked, after a brief time of silence.

"Another one?" JJ knew it wasn't going to be a regular question because he was asking for permission.

"Why'd we break up?"

"Do we have to do this now?" This was a hard question to answer, she wasn't 100% sure she knew it herself.

"Guess not. What's one more day after six years?" Will said as he went back to reading the case file silently.

"Fine, uhh," she started as she remembered back. "We both had more than full time careers. We barely saw each other. We didn't just live in different cities, we lived in different states. And I didn't think I was ready for a serious relationship."

"Serious relationship? I thought we were in a serious relationship. We both loved each other, had keys to each-others places and we spoke on the phone every chance we had. It seemed pretty serious to me."

"It was. But I wasn't ready for anything more then."

"Did you think I was pressuring you for more?" Will asked a little confused by the whole situation. "Because I'm sorry if you did."

"You weren't. It was all in my head," she said. She had realised a long time ago that she had ruined something good by her insecurities. "But back then I was scared and I didn't think I could handle it."

"What about with Henry's father? I mean you couldn't have been together too long before you had him."

"I'd really prefer not to talk about him," JJ said hoping Will wouldn't push her into divulging too much more information.

"Sorry. Sore subject?"

"You could say that."

"You know I'm just gonna say it," Will said knowing a change in conversation was needed, but he didn't want to move far off subject. "I always hoped you'd come after me when I left the station," he said remembering back to the last time they had seen each other, aside from yesterday of course. He could remember every detail. The lilac top she was wearing, the way her hair fell, the sweet perfume she was had on. That smell lingered on her side of his bed for a month after they broke up. He hated when he had to wash the covers, but he knew it was time.

"I couldn't. No matter how much I wanted to, I just couldn't." JJ and Will just stared at each other. Will smiled that smile that had always been able to melt JJ to the core. Their moment was disturbed by JJ's cell phone ringing. "Sorry, I have to get this."

"All good," Will said as he went back to reading the paragraph he had been, though this time he didn't keep reading the same sentence over and over because he was having trouble focusing.

"Jennifer Jareau?" She answered.

"Agent Jareau, this is Sheriff Neilson. We spoke last week about the murders of two young females."

"Yes, I remember," she said bringing the emails back up.

"We just had two more girls show up, and you told me to call with any updates."

"I did, thank you. Could you send through the new cases? I'd have to have a look through them, but we aren't on another case right now," JJ said and Will looked up confused. "And I'd have to run it passed the team, but I think they'd agree the UnSub had escalated to the point where immediate action should be taken."

"Thank you, Agent Jareau."

"I'll call you back when I know more," JJ said hanging up and refreshing her emails to see the new ones had come in.

"What was that about?" Will asked.

"We have a case," JJ explained not looking away from her computer.

"What about this one?"

"We go to the top priority case."

"So you guys go away for however long and then we work on this when you get back?" Will asked.

"Possibly. We've done a half working profile now, so you might have to go at it with what you've got."

"But I wouldn't have gotten anywhere without you."

"What do you want me to do, not take this case? Four girls have been tortured to death at a highly alarming rate."

"No, of course not."

"What we've done today, we wouldn't do this for just anyone. Maybe just take what we've done back to your team and now that you've had the BAU's help, the other detectives might believe there's a case," JJ suggested as she picked up her tablet to leave her office. It wasn't ideal, but what else could she do?

"I guess."

"Just don't leave. Hotch might not agree."

…

"Once Morgan and Prentiss are back, you can brief the team."

"Yes sir," JJ said as she started to leave her bosses office.

"And JJ," Hotch called.

"Yes?" She asked turning back around.

"How many cases will this be?"

"The fifth?" She answered not 100% certain herself.

"Then you'll be staying back. I want you to continue working with Detective LaMontagne and work between cases. As we'll pick this up when we get back." Hotch and JJ had an agreement after Henry was born. Every four cases JJ would stay back and work from her office like Penelope. Hotch understood the struggles of single parenthood, and knew JJ was a Mom first. Gina was sent as the 'JJ' on these particular instances if the case needed a press conference, because not every one did.

"He'll be glad to hear that. He was worried."


	4. Chapter 4

"So you're not coming with us?" Emily said as both she and JJ reached her desk in the bullpen after the team briefing. Hotch had muttered those all too common 'Wheels up in 30' before standing up and leaving the round table.

"I'm already one too many cases in a row," JJ explained.

"At least you'll have a semi quiet week."

"Not really. I'll still be working on LaMontagne's case while simultaneously working on this one."

"You'll be working with LaMontagne?" Emily asked.

"Yes," JJ answered not really sure of what Emily was getting at.

"Alone?"

"We were alone today," JJ said still not understanding Emily's point.

"Yeah, but this is 'alone' alone."

"So what?"

"Things happen when you're alone," Emily said while JJ resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the obvious attempt Emily was making. "Plus LaMontagne is undeniably hot. You should go for him."

JJ scoffed. "You have got to stop giving me that advice."

"What do you mean?"

"Does 'You should go for him. You'd make a cute couple' sound familiar?"

"Who did I say that about?"

"Will," JJ answered but Emily looked as if she didn't remember. "In Miami. Like six years ago."

"Even though I don't really remember that particular conversation, I give good advice. So because you didn't listen to me back then, you should really listen to me now," Emily said as she picked her go bag up from under her desk. "Why didn't you listen to me then?"

"Back then? I had just gotten out of a serious relationship."

"So what's your excuse now?" She said shrugging her shoulders.

"I have a son," JJ replied as if it was obvious.

"You think that's a legitimate reason? Hotch has a son and he's dating. Thousands of people have kids and date JJ, it's not that weird."

"And it's not that simple."

"Even if it's not with LaMontagne, you need to get back on the horse sometime. You haven't been with anyone since Henry was born."

"I'm not sure I'm ready."

"You're ready. Unless you're still in love with Henry's father," Emily joked.

"What?" JJ answered quickly. "That's ridiculous."

"Really? Because that reaction says different. But I'm just a profiler, what do I know?" She said sarcastically.

"It's complicated."

"JJ, no one ever pushed to know more about him because we know you're a private person and we respect your privacy, but-"

"You ladies gonna keep chatting, or can we go?" Morgan said walking passed.

"Coming," Emily called back. "Just let your hair down with LaMontagne. What's the worst that can happen?" She said before walking off to the elevator.

…

JJ left the Bureau about 10 minutes after the team was in the elevator. Will had left before the briefing as he knew he would just be in the way if he stayed. So there wasn't anything JJ needed to stay in the office to do that she couldn't do at home. Most nights she took a pile of reports home that she would work on when Henry had gone to bed, and tonight was no different. Except tonight she would get to spend more time with Henry, which was an added bonus. She was too late to pick him up from school but she wouldn't be too much later getting home.

"Hey little man," JJ said walking into the kitchen.

"Mom," Henry yelled happily as he jumped off his chair and ran to give his mother a hug.

"Has he been good?" She asked Danielle, Henry's nanny, after returning the hug.

"Always. You're back early."

"We got a case, and it's my case off, and I didn't have any work I couldn't do here, so I thought 'why not come home early'."

"Well that little guy is very happy," Danielle said as Henry jumped around.

"I can tell."

"So I will see you tomorrow," she said. Danielle would always leave as soon as JJ arrived home.

"Bye. Say 'bye' Henry," JJ coached.

"Bye Danielle," he waved.

…

JJ had spent the rest of the afternoon playing with Henry and listening to Henry read. Then when it came time to cook dinner, she cooked while he worked on the reading and handwriting worksheets he had been given at school that day.

After reading him a story, she could see he had fallen asleep, she silently put the book down and slowly walked out the door and turned his light off. She then headed to her own room where she started working on the files she had brought home. Her normal nightly routine when she was at home.

As she came to the last file for the night, her cell started to vibrate, she reached across the bed to get it as it was on charge.

"Jennifer Jareau?" She answered not recognising the number. But this was her private cell, it had to be someone she knew or a wrong number.

"JJ, its Will."

"How did you get this number?" She asked. She didn't think Emily would have given it to him, and it wasn't as if she had the same number as she had when they were dating.

"It's a long story."

"I would like to hear it," JJ said not getting deterred.

"It makes me sound like a stalker," Will said cautiously.

"Well now I really want to hear it."

"Okay, I called my number from your phone, when you were out of the room," he explained.

"That's it?" She asked, it was weird, but it wasn't as weird as he had made it out to sound.

"Yep that's it," he replied, but he wasn't giving her the whole story.

"Wait my phone has a passcode on it?"

"Yeah," Will said drawing it out.

"Did you turn into some super hacker in the last six years?"

"Your passcode was '1112'. I didn't need to be a super hacker," Will said and JJ realised she probably shouldn't have used Henry's birthday to unlock her phone.

"It's an easy one for my son to remember, he has games on there," JJ explained.

"I'm sorry, it was an invasion of privacy, and I don't really know what I was thinking at the time. I actually didn't think I'd crack the passcode."

"It's fine Will. Is there a reason you're calling?"

"Ah yeah, I have to go into the station tomorrow so I won't be able to get the Bureau till about lunch time."

"Okay, you could have called me tomorrow and told me that," she said not really sure if it warranted a phone call, not that she minded hearing from him.

"I know…But I wanted to hear your voice."

"Will," she said trying to stop him, this could go down a path she didn't want, real fast.

"I'm sorry JJ, but for the last two days I haven't be able to stop thinking about you, thinking about us and thinking about our relationship. And I know I shouldn't, and I shouldn't even be bringing it up but I can't help it."

"Will please," she wanted him to stop, her feelings for him had never really gone away, and this was making the last six years all the more difficult to deal with.

"JJ."

"No, I don't want to do this. I don't want to do this now, I don't want to do this when the case is over. I don't want to do this."

"Why not?"

"Because I can't. We can't change the past. No matter how much one of us would want to. It's too late. Too much has happened."

"I don't care."

"You don't even know me. You're hanging on to the memory of a girl you used to know, and I'm not the girl anymore. I've changed. We've both changed," she was throwing everything out to make him change his mind.

"I probably shouldn't have brought this up now."

"Probably not."

"Okay, well then I should go."

"Yeah," JJ said quietly. The line went quiet, but not the normal silence of an ended call. "You didn't hang up."

"I couldn't do it."

"Why not?" JJ asked.

"Because I like hearing your voice," Will answered, because he didn't want to lie to her. "Can we talk normally, we could just put that on the backburner?"

"Sure, but I don't want to put it on the backburner, I want to take it off the stove," JJ said adding to his analogy.

"We'll just have to agree to disagree on that," Will said and JJ could imagine the cocky grin that was across his face.

"So why the move to D.C.?" JJ asked deciding to move the conversation along.

"It didn't have anything to do with you," he said assuring her.

"I never thought it did, but now do," JJ joked.

"No. I was just at a point in my life where I wanted a change. And then this opportunity came up and I thought 'why the hell not' and I took it and moved up here. Good career decision."

"What about a good life decision? You didn't have anyone?"

"Didn't have a relationship longer than six months. Seemed a lot of girls liked the idea of being in a relationship with a cop, but putting that to practice wasn't what they had in mind."

"Couldn't handle your work times?"

"Yeah after a missed birthday or I couldn't go out with her friends because of a case, it was just too much for them to handle."

"Yeah finding someone who understands what this job takes isn't easy. You should date another cop, at least then they couldn't complain about the hours."

"Yeah that's a solution. But the female cops I know, they aren't so much my type. FBI agents on the other hand."

"Oh brother," she rolled her eyes.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding," Will said knowing exactly what was going through JJ's mind. "I missed this."

"Missed what?"

"This. Talking to you on the phone. It's like old times."

"Yeah. You shamelessly flirting with me, just like old times."

"I was not shamelessly flirting with you."

"What would you call it?" JJ asked amused by the conversation

"Just flirting with you," Will joked, he knew he was playing dangerously close to the edge, but he couldn't help it.

"Henry?" JJ said looking up and seeing the little boy standing in the doorway holding his teddy bear. "What's the matter?" She asked sweetly moving the phone to her chest.

"I had a bad dream."

"You had a nightmare? Do you want to sleep in here tonight?" She asked and Henry nodded in response. "Come on up," she said patting the bed for Henry to climb on. "Come here," she said holding her arms open and Henry came in from a hug. "It's okay. It was just a dream. It wasn't real. You're okay," JJ said rubbing his back. Henry didn't get nightmares too often, but when he did he couldn't get back to sleep unless JJ was there or he talked to her on the phone. "Hey I have to go," JJ said back into her cell.

"JJ, you know that person I just heard? I want her."

"Fine. Back burner," she said smiling before hanging up.

"Who was that?" Henry asked.

"Just an old friend," she answered wrapping her arm back around him.


	5. Chapter 5

"I love when you're here instead of on case," Garcia said. JJ was in the technical analysis' cave like she usually was when she didn't go with the team.

"You tell me that every time," JJ replied with a smile.

"I know. But, do you know what I love even more? When the team goes to the West Coast. I get a lazy morning because of the time difference. Gives me a chance to wake up."

"I don't get lazy mornings anymore. But I do hope they bring us back something this time," JJ joked, knowing they didn't get time to souvenir shop.

"Like a hot dreamy doctor."

"They're in Seattle, not fictional drama television Seattle."

"Well what would you want them to bring you back?" Penelope asked.

"Coffee."

"We have coffee here," Garcia replied holding up a mug.

"No, we have brown water here," JJ complained. "I wish the Bureau would just buy a good coffee machine for the BAU, or get a café somewhere on five or six. We're doing important work here we should be properly caffeinated."

"I love your caffeine rants. Do you want to rest of my mug?"

"Thank you, but I've seen how many sugars you put in that."

"I like it sweet. And speaking of sweet, how's my sweet little sugar plum?"

"Henry? He's good. Though he had a nightmare last night," JJ explained.

"Oh my poor little peapod, is he okay?"

"Yeah, he's fine. He slept in my bed all night. Then this morning, he woke up when my alarm went off, usually I wake him a half hour after, and he went straight to his room and got ready for school. Which was a drastic difference from yesterday. So we left much earlier than normal and we stopped at the grocery store to get him a treat for his lunch."

"Aww what did you get him?"

"See, this is why you don't let a five year old pick whatever he wants."

"Why? What he get?"

"A toy truck. I was expecting him to want a giant bag of gummy bears, so this was the better of the two. But I had to tell him he couldn't take it to school and we'd leave it in the car and he wouldn't get it until I got home, which he was fine with."

"He's such a cutie."

"That he is." JJ said getting distracted as she looked down at her phone seeing a message had just come through.

'_Hey, I'm here, where  
abouts are ya?'_

'_Be there in a few'_

"Sorry, I got to go. Will's here," JJ said after looking at the message and quickly texting back.

"Who's Will?" Penelope asked as JJ got up from her chair.

"Detective LaMontagne," JJ explained.

"Oh, sorry," she said working out who JJ was talking about. "Everyone else just calls him LaMontagne."

"Right, you haven't met him yet, have you?" JJ asked, skipping over why they were on a first name basis.

"No."

"Come meet him," JJ gestured for her to come with, and she happily got up only to have her phone ring as soon as she did. "Tell Morgan I say 'hi'," she said as Penelope fell back into her chair. "Just come by when you've finished," she said before walking out the door.

"Hey," Will said as JJ walked up to him and her office.

"You brought me coffee?" She asked happily surprised seeing the two cardboard cups in his hand. She was almost convinced that he heard Penelope's and her conversation, but that would be ridiculous.

"I know you've changed, but I can't see you changing all that much," Will said as he handed her the cup.

"No, coffee is still my lifeline. Especially now I have a kid."

"I thought you'd like it," he said as she took a sip.

"Thank you," she said opening up her office door to let them in.

"Also thought you'd need one, you know having a kid in your bed all night."

"I actually sleep better with him in the bed, you know don't have to worry about him. Except for the first year when he was teething and wouldn't sleep in his cot, I was always terrified I would roll over and squish him," JJ had actually forgot she was talking to Will and her filter had turned off. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't talk about him, we're meant to be working," she said taking her seat behind the desk.

"What? No. It's fine. Though I'm still in shock you have a kid, but motherhood suits you," Will said.

"Thank you."

"And if you want to talk about your kid, talk about your kid, I don't mind."

"Really?"

"Yeah I love kids. I've always wanted kids."

"You have?" JJ asked as her stomach dropped. She felt even more horrible. Everything he said and did made her feel like she had made the worst decision not telling him about Henry all those years ago, but back then she really thought she was doing what was right.

"Especially a son. So I'm a little jealous," he said and just added to her guilt.

"Well I'm sure you'll have one, one day. We should probably get to work," she said quickly changing subject as she woke her computer back up.

"I'm here," Penelope said as she opened the door and walked in.

"That was quick," JJ said surprised to see she was already in her office.

"He wanted me to give him a list of places that were in a fifty mile radius of the dump site that would sell a particular brand of beer. I did it with my eyes closed," she explained. "I told him not to call me back until he had something a monkey couldn't do. So this must be Detective LaMontagne," she said turning her attention to Will.

"Ah yes. Will, Penelope Garcia. Penelope, William LaMontagne," JJ introduced, and Will stood up from his chair to greet the technical analysis.

"Nice to finally meet you," Will said holding out his hand.

"Pleasure is all mine," Penelope said shaking his hand, completely smitten by his accent. "And it no wonder JJ likes working with you, you're fun to look at."

"Oh my god," JJ said hoping this would end soon, Will just turned to JJ while he grinned and chuckled.

"I mean you're no Chocolate Thunder, but you're a solid nine and a half," Penelope continued.

"Chocolate Thunder?" Will asked.

"Morgan," JJ answered.

"Oh, well thank you," Will said, taking what he hoped was a compliment.

"But with those looks and that accent, how do you get any work done?"

"Penelope," JJ said trying to get her attention. "Work," she said trying to remind her friend where they were and how this was borderline inappropriate.

"Right. It was fan-fairy-tastic meeting you, but I have to go back to my babies," Penelope said before exiting JJ's office.

"Her babies?" Will asked.

"Her computers."

"Oh. She's colourful."

"And spirited. It's why we don't let her meet the people," JJ joked.

…

"Oh my god, Will," JJ said not looking away from her computer screen, she thought she had found something.

"I remember when you used to scream that out," Will joked and got JJ's attention away from the article she was reading.

"Wow, I'm not going to justify that with a response. Now pull your chair around and read this," she ordered, still shocked those words came out of Will's mouth.

"Yes ma'am," Will said, JJ just rolled her eyes and gave her attention back to the computer. Will sat right up to her, this was the closest they had been since their hug a couple days ago. "What am I looking at?"

"Does anything seem familiar?"

"Yeah it's obviously our guy, so we found another case. What's the big deal?" Will questioned. Usually she just printed it out for him to read.

"Look at the date."

"2009? That can't be right."

"And place."

"West Virginia?"

"Crossing state lines makes it federal. You don't need anyone's permission anymore. You got yourself a case," JJ said as they both looked at each other. "We probably can't do anymore until the team gets back though."

"Thank you."

"It's no problem," she said smiling at him.

"No, I wouldn't have been able to do any of this without you. Thank you," Will said. He couldn't help himself, he leaned in and placed a peck on JJ's lips. He didn't pull away too far, and before he knew it his lips were back on hers.


	6. Chapter 6

"_Thank you", Will said. He couldn't help himself, he leaned in and placed a peck on JJ's lips. He didn't pull away too far, and before he knew it his lips were back on hers._

"Whoa, what are we doing?" JJ asked as she pushed Will back. "We can't do this."

"Why?"

"Because this is my work. And there's a camera right there," she said pointing across the room. "And this can't happen between us," she explained getting out of her chair and sitting on her desk to create some distance between them. But Will just pushed her chair away and came to sit next to her again.

"Tell me you haven't got feelings for me. Tell me you don't think about me. Tell me you didn't feel anything in that kiss. And I won't push this," Will said taking JJ's hand and looking up at her.

"I-" she started and though distracted by Will's thumb rubbing circles in to her hands, she knew she couldn't deny the truth. "We didn't work out last time, why would you think we'd work out now?" She said pulling her hand away.

"It's less complicated now," he replied.

"Less complicated? How?" JJ asked confused, because where she was standing, it couldn't be more complicated.

"We're older now. Plus we don't live a thousand miles apart anymore," Will answered.

"I have a son."

"So? I have baggage too," though he didn't really think having a son classified as baggage.

"Really?" She asked not really believing him.

"Yeah. Like I'm a workaholic," Will somewhat joked. JJ just shot him a look that said 'seriously?' in response. "And I've been pining over a girl who dumped me, for six years."

"Okay, but all joking aside."

"I wasn't joking".

"We didn't work out last time."

"Yeah because of you. You couldn't handle it."

"Who says I can handle it now?" She said getting up from the desk. She couldn't be near him and she needed to walk around. "My life is a mess. I work for days on end. And when I'm not, I'm with Henry. I go from work to Henry, to work to Henry. I don't have time for anything else."

"JJ, we'll work something out," he said, starting to follow her.

"No Will, there's nothing to work out. We can't do this. Too much time has passed. Too much has happened."

"Do you love me?" He asked, and she froze. They both knew the answer.

"That's not the point."

"Do you love me?"

"Will," she pleaded, tears starting to form in her eyes.

"JJ, do you love me?" He asked again, he was close to her, he slid his hands onto either side of her waist.

"Yes," she finally answered.

"Then we can do this," he said smiling happy to hear her say it, even if he had to push it out of her.

"No. _I _can't do this," JJ said moving out of his hold and blinking back the tears. "I told you yesterday. I told you last night, and I'm telling you now. I can't do this."

"We can take it slow. Just date," Will said, he was willing to give _anything_ a try.

"We can't just date. We're too far passed _just_ dating. We can't take steps backwards," she replied walking behind her desk. She was glad he didn't move after her.

"Then we should take steps forwards."

"No. How we are now. This is how we should stay."

"Is that really what you want? To be how we are now? Three days ago we hadn't seen each other in six years. I don't want to go back to that."

"But it's the easiest thing to do."

"Easiest thing? Going back to not seeing each other, and not talking would be easy for you? Do you know how hard it was for me to call you, to bring this all up again? I can't go back to how it was. And I don't want to."

"I know it would have been hard for you," she understood more than he knew. She knew what it was like to have an important call to make, but at least he made his. They were here right now because of a call she didn't make and a call he had. "But does it really change anything?"

"I thought just seeing you happy and moved on with your life would give me closure and I could move on too. But you haven't moved on and neither have I, so maybe there's a reason we both haven't."

"What do you want from me?" She could feel the tears starting to form again. Just once she wished she could control her tear ducts.

"I want you. I want you to see how this isn't crazy. I want you to forget about the past and forget about the past 6 years. And remember how we were before. Before we broke up. And not the times we were apart, but the times we were together. The times we were happy," Will pleaded. JJ had tried to let go of those memories. She thought it was for the best, but too often they would play on repeat. Memories like when she would go to New Orleans and they would go out to the bar with his friends or just lay in bed all day, or the time he surprised her on her birthday.

"I can't," she started.

"Stop saying you can't. You haven't even tried."

"I don't need to. Because all I can see is it ending badly. And I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to hurt me, and I don't want to hurt Henry. And if you came into our lives, I can't see it being anything other than difficult and confusing for him. He has enough confusion in his life, and I don't want to add to it."

"I understand you want to protect your son, but-" Will started but JJ cut him off.

"I can't deal with this right now," she said. Her head was going to explode. She didn't know what was secret and what wasn't and with all the feelings and confusion that had been brought up, she knew it was only a matter of time before she slipped up, and all would go to hell. "I think you should go."

"JJ, no," he pleaded. He wanted to work this all out. Space wouldn't do any good for either of them.

"I will call you when the team comes back," she added. She knew all she needed was space, so she could work through everything and compartmentalize what was going on.

"Okay," he said solemnly. He knew there was no point fighting it. Once she had made up her mind there was only a little chance of changing it.

"Please don't call me, unless it's actually about the case."

"Sure thing," he said as he opened the door to leave. "But JJ, don't think I'm not going to try again," he added before closing the door behind him.

JJ fell back into her chair and laid her head on her desk. She wasn't exactly sure what had just happened, but knew it wasn't good.


	7. Chapter 7

A couple of days had passed since the incident in the office, but JJ had just gotten the call to say the team was heading back. Which meant she had to call Will, a call she had been dreading to make. She didn't know where his head would me at, she didn't even know where her head was at. Everything that had happened was playing on a loop. The kiss. Her pushing him away. Holding his hand. Saying she loved him. Telling him to leave. Everything. She had over analysed it all. And she still didn't know what she wanted. She wanted him, she knew that much. But she knew it was too late for them, and she didn't think bringing all this up again would do either of them any good.

A déjà vu feeling ran through her. Six years ago, she sat on the same bed, though in a different apartment, with nothing but confusing and frightening thoughts running through her mind, and having to make a phone call. Though this situation was considerably easier compared to that one. She scrolled down through her recent contacts until she found Will's name. She half hoped he would pick up so they could talk, but then leaving a message would be a lot easier. She was glad that Will had respected her request and not called, it gave her time, and all she needed was time.

"Hey," Will said answering. JJ's stomach did flips, there was no hiding behind a message now.

"Hey, I just got word that the teams heading back, but Hotch is giving us the weekend off so we'll start working on your case Monday morning. I'll be briefing the team on the new updates at ten, so you can come to that or come after, it's up to you," JJ said quickly, she really didn't know what else to say, and she knew Monday would be awkward enough without adding to it.

"'I'll come to it."

"Okay, then I'll see you Monday morning," JJ said ready to hang up.

"JJ, wait," he said before she could. And after not hearing any sound of the call being disconnected he went on. "I'm sorry."

"Will, you don't need to apologise."

"Then why do I feel like I need to?"

"Because I made you feel that way," she answered. "I'm not good for you. I do nothing but hurt you. Why would you want to put yourself through that again?" She asked.

"You know why," he answered. She did know why. He loved her.

"But is that enough?"

"In most situations," he answered.

"Well unfortunately this isn't most situations," JJ said, and they both knew that was the truth. "Look, I'm still not ready to talk about all this, so I'll see you Monday," JJ said.

"Bye then," he said, knowing it was best not to push her.

"Bye."

…

The weekend went by too quickly for JJ. Henry was a ball of energy both days and after everything they had planned, JJ had very little time to think of Will. Even at night after Henry had gone to bed, she had been so wiped that she went to bed the same time as Henry. She was not looking forward to the week ahead even more than normal.

When JJ got into the Bureau, she grabbed a cup of coffee, her second for the day, and headed to her office to look over the presentation before ten. Everyone already knew the basics so she had to make it more in depth, and needed to add what she and Will had found.

When it hit ten JJ called Will to see if he was at the Bureau so she could start the briefing, but with no answer she headed to the conference room knowing she shouldn't keep the profilers waiting. "Sorry I'm late," JJ said even though it was only by a minute or two. She scanned the round table once she got to the front and was surprised to see Will sitting opposite to her and next to Derek.

She had prepared for him to be there, but when he hadn't answered his phone she assumed he wouldn't make it, so seeing him sitting across from her was a little off putting. She had thought he would come to her office when he got in, but that was obviously not the case.

…

"Morgan, Reid and Dave head to West Virginia, the rest of us will stay here," Hotch said as he got up from the table and left the briefing, slowly everybody followed, including Will. JJ stayed back, tidying up the room, after seeing JJ not follow, Emily stayed back.

"What happened between you and LaMontagne?" Emily asked, JJ thought it was out of nowhere.

"Nothing," JJ replied quickly. "Why?"

"Because the way you two were acting in here just then, it was weird," she explained and JJ knew what she was talking about, though she had hoped no one would have noticed how awkward they were being.

JJ decided to just tell, maybe having someone she could talk to would help her out. "He kissed me."

"What? When?"

"The day after you guys left."

"Why?"

"Because he wanted to?" JJ answered not sure why she was answering that, what other reason would there have been.

"What did you do?" Emily asked, as JJ picked up the last of the files from the desk.

"I pushed him back, and told him told him to leave. We haven't seen each other since." She omitted what happened between the kiss and him leaving, that was opening up a bit more than she was ready to.

"Can't say I'm surprised. But I also wished you hadn't. Because as your best friend, all I want to see is you happy-"

"Thank you," JJ said, though she knew this was going somewhere.

"And I know you're happy with your life, but don't you ever want more?"

"Uh yeah," she answered softly.

"I know it was just a kiss and I could lead nowhere, but it could lead to your something more."

"Can I think it over?" JJ asked, though she hadn't stopped thinking about it. She knew this would get her off her back for a while at least.

"All I can ask."

"We should probably get out there," JJ said and Emily nodded and followed JJ out.

…

Hotch, Emily, JJ and Will sat around the roundtable going over their day's work. They had been working there for a half hour when Hotch had to take a call and went back to his office. "I'm starving," Emily said realising this could be an opportunity to play matchmaker. "JJ, do you want anything?"

"Ah yeah, just my regular," she answered.

"Detective?" Emily asked Will.

"No, I'm fine thank you," he answered.

"Okay, I'll be back soon," Emily said as she left the conference room. JJ soon realised what Emily was really doing, but this was the first time she and Will had been alone all day, and she thought they probably should talk.

"I, ah, thought you weren't going to be here today," JJ said, not really sure where she should start.

"I told you I would when you called."

"I know, I just thought you were going to come up to my office before the briefing, and when you didn't, I assumed."

"I was gonna. But Morgan was in the elevator when I came up, and we started talking about the game."

"The game?"

"The Saints vs the Bears".

"Football, of course."

"He thought I'd be a fan."

"Which I'm guessing you still are."

"I am."

"Can't take the New Orleans out of the man."

"Yeah," he laughed. "Remember when we went to a game?"

"Of course, it was a fun day," she smiled back at the memory.

"Fun night too, if I recall," Will added.

"It starting to pour as soon as the game ended, and then we couldn't get a cab home, very fun."

"Well I meant _after_ that," Will smirked.

"I know you did," JJ replied mimicking Will's smile and meeting him in the eye.

"Hey, I'm sorry about last week," Will said after a pause in conversation.

"Stop apologising. You didn't do anything wrong. You didn't do anything back then, you didn't do anything now. You have nothing to apologise for. Everything that's happening or has happened is because of me. So please, just stop," JJ felt bad enough about what had happened, and with Will thinking it was his fault made it worse.

"But I pushed you."

"Yeah, but you also said you wouldn't push if I could tell you I didn't have feelings for you and I couldn't, so again you did nothing wrong."

"I guess but-" Will started.

"Dave just called with a lead," Hotch said walking into the room and interrupting them. They both guessed this conversation would have to wait.


	8. Chapter 8

It had been a few days since the team had been exclusively working on Will's case. The guys were back from West Virginia and they had found the identity of the UnSub. Currently half the team was at a warehouse district just outside of DC being guided by Garcia, while the other half were headed to the UnSub's house. Morgan, Rossi, Reid and Will were at the warehouses, while Hotch, Emily and JJ were at the Unsub's house.

The Unsub's house was a bust and after some time, Hotch made the decision to head back knowing that the UnSub wasn't coming back here, as the house looked like it hadn't been entered in at least a year. The three of them got back into the SUV and headed back to the Bureau.

…

"Who was shot?" Emily asked to Morgan on the phone while they were heading back to the Bureau. "Morgan?" She said after not getting a reply. She then heard the beeping sound to say they had been disconnected. The signal hadn't been the best but it picked an inopportune time to cut off. Emily tried calling back but it just rang out. "They're heading back soon," Emily said to the rest of the car.

"Who's been shot?" JJ asked from the back seat. She didn't want to freak out until she knew who it was. It could have been anyone. It wasn't going to be Will or any of the team.

"It cut out before he could answer," Emily replied.

"Well it obviously wasn't him, but was it Rossi, was it Reid…was it Will?" JJ asked, scared to know the answer. She and Will still weren't on the same page and they hadn't been able to work through anything in the past couple of days, but she didn't want him to be hurt, she needed him to be safe.

"All he said was 'it _was_ a detective'," Emily answered, and she could tell the JJ's head would have started spinning.

"What did he say exactly?" Hotch asked from the driver's seat.

"He said 'That there was a standoff, and that the UnSub and a detective had been shot. And they were waiting for the ambulances to leave before they were going to head back' and that's where it cut out," Emily explained.

JJ didn't want to panic unless there was actually a reason to, so she took out her phone and started to text Will, but before she could hit 'send' the screen went black. She tossed her phone on to the empty seat beside her. She couldn't believe she hadn't charged her phone the night before. All she needed to know was if Will was the one who had been shot and if he had if it was critical or just a grazing wound. Her stomach had fallen and her eyes kept going in and out of focus at the trees as they drove passed quickly.

"I'm 90% sure he didn't say 'LaMontagne'," Emily lied as she turned around to look at her friend. She knew JJ would need to hear that. Just like she knew that even though JJ said she didn't like Will, she actually did.

"Thanks," JJ said, though she knew she was lying to spare her from the worry she was already feeling.

…

Getting back to the Bureau JJ still hadn't shaken off the anxiety, in fact it had just grown. She knew the others wouldn't be back for at least another half an hour, but she didn't know what to do to pass the time. She had heaps of work to do, post case reports and new cases, but she couldn't bring herself to even look at them or start them.

JJ paced around her office, but after a while that was only adding to her nerves, so she went out to the bullpen to sit with Emily.

"Any word yet?" JJ asked.

"Nothing," Emily answered, knowing that wasn't the answer JJ wanted. "But they should be back any minute," she added, she knew it wasn't much but maybe it could give some comfort to her friend.

"Why haven't they called to give us an update?"

"He doesn't know he has too," Emily answered. "But take them not calling back as a good sign."

"I'll try," she breathed out.

"It'll be alright," Emily reassured JJ and took her hand.

"I know," JJ said putting on a brave face, but she still wasn't sure. "I should go put my phone on charge," JJ added after some silence.

"There's probably a text saying 'he's fine' waiting for you," Emily said, knowing it wasn't entirely impossible. She could see how Will felt about JJ, and how JJ felt about Will. They had been good to hide it the past few days but all the stolen glances hadn't slipped passed her.

"Thanks Em," JJ said getting up, and starting to walk away.

"JJ," Emily called after her, as she saw Morgan push the bullpen doors open. JJ quickly turned around to see the rest of the team walk through the doors. But when Will didn't walk through with them the sense of dread grew. JJ sunk down on to Emily's desk and turned away from everybody. This was becoming too much to deal with. He was the detective that had been shot. There was no other explanation. He was either getting quickly stitched up or lying in a hospital bed recovering from the gunshot wound. And those were the good options. He could be lying on an operating table or worse, a slab in the morgue. The love of her life and the father of her child was dead or seriously injured. The longer she thought about it the worse the outcome came. She knew she had to ask what had happened, but she didn't know if she could handle the answer.

She took a deep breath before turning back to her friends. But as she did she saw him walking through the glass doors, a sense of relief washed over her, and the fear rushed from her body. She wanted to run over and give him a tight hug and not let him go, but then she remembered where they were and the situation they were in and everything became confusing again.

Will had gone to JJ's office to see her, but after not finding her, he headed back to the group, knowing they could lead him to her. After seeing her he couldn't work out if she was happy or upset to see him. He wished it was six years ago when he could know how she was feeling by the look on her face, but he wasn't able to read her as well anymore. But what he did know was she didn't like making public scenes so he continued to act like he had been for the past two weeks while he was with her friends and work colleagues.

The quick changes of emotions were a lot to deal with, and although extremely happy the Will was fine, she wasn't up for the celebratory post case talk. She really didn't know what to say to anyone, but especially Will.

So she decided to sneak off quietly so they wouldn't notice her absence. But Will noticed before she could leave the bullpen. He excused himself and quickly followed after her.

"Hey, what's the matter?" Will asked following JJ into her office.

"Nothing, I'm just glad the case is over and everyone's okay," she answered. Although Will didn't know why, he could tell that wasn't the whole truth. But he knew if she wanted to talk about it, she would.

"I have to get going but I really want to thank you for all your help," he said letting it go. "And to say that it was good to see you again," he unfortunately was quite certain that this would be their goodbye.

"You too," JJ was still at a loss for words, relief had flooded her body and she couldn't think of much else.

Will didn't take JJ's almost silence as a good thing, so he had to ask. "Do we go back to the way we were before?" Will hoped she wouldn't say 'yes'. He had decided he wouldn't push her again, it wasn't fair on either of them.

"I suppose," JJ said.

"I guess I'll see you in six years then," he joked but wished that wasn't the case. Not knowing what else to say Will started to walk to the door.

"Will wait," JJ said. She missed her chance before, she didn't go after him and she had regretted it ever since. This was her chance to change that. "I don't want to see you in six years," she said and Will's face dropped. "I mean, I don't want it to take six years to see you," she couldn't lose him again, her fear of him being hurt or worse had told her that much. "I'm not sure what I want, but I know I don't want that," she said taking a breath, this was hard for her, she had always been scared of putting her feelings on the line, and she would have liked to say that since Henry she had changed, but deep down she was still that scared person she was when she dumped him. "We could just be friends, or if the offers still there- we could date…but slowly," she added.

"Thank God", Will said coming back to her.

"Is that a 'yes'?" JJ asked.

"That's a-" Will started but answered by putting his lips on hers.

"Okay," JJ said when they came apart. "So if you're free Saturday night, I can probably get Emily or Spence to babysit."

"I have the night off," he smiled and took her hand. "I don't want to, but I have to go back to the precinct now. But I'll call you tonight to talk."

"I look forward to it," she replied, she had the same wide smile on her face, like he had on his. He pulled her in for another kiss before he had to leave.

She went and sat back happily at her desk. Right now she didn't mind if he found out about Henry, but she wanted it to be the right time for all of them. She didn't know when that would be, but she knew it wasn't going to be soon.


	9. Chapter 9

JJ and Will had spoken on the phone each night since they had finished the case, it was really like old times. They had planned to go to dinner on the Saturday night and re-get to know each other. Will had insisted that he pick JJ up. JJ had tried to protest, but Will's southern gentleman ways won out. JJ knew it was probably time for Will and Henry to meet, but all she could handle right now was a quick meet and greet that she could control before leaving.

"Hey," JJ said as she opened the door for Will to come in. She was almost ready, just needed a touch up and to grab her bag from her room, and then she would be ready to go.

"You look beautiful," Will said kissing JJ on the cheek.

"Thank you. You scrub up better than I remember," she replied after they pulled away from each other. "I just need a minute and then I'll be ready to go."

"Take your time," Will said and JJ smiled before walking down the hallway to her room.

Will felt a little awkward just standing in the entrance way, he should have gotten there later knowing JJ might not be completely ready on time, but he was so excited he couldn't stay at his place any longer than he did.

He was checking his phone, just to give himself something to do when he heard footsteps running towards him. When he looked up he saw a blond little boy and Reid coming towards him. Henry stopped a few feet away from Will, not expecting him, although he knew his mom was going out.

"Detective LaMontagne, good to see you again," Spencer said catching up. JJ had told the team that she was going out with Will, she didn't want a repeat of when they dated. Will was definitely happy about that.

"You too, Dr Reid," Will said. "So, this must be Henry. Hi Henry, I'm Will," Will waved. JJ was right about him favouring her, though he wasn't a splitting image, he had her hair and eyes.

"Hi," Henry said back.

"How old are you?" Will asked. He thought he looked a lot older than four.

"I'm five," Henry answered as he held out his hand with all five fingers up.

"When's your birthday?" Will asked, maybe when JJ told him about Henry she had forgotten he'd just had a birthday, it was possible.

"November," Henry said before running over to his mom, who was walking back down the hall.

"2009?" Will asked Reid. Maybe Henry was rounding up.

"2008," Reid corrected.

"Okay," Will replied slightly confused and he started doing the maths.

"Now Henry," JJ started when she got back to the men. "Are we going to listen to Uncle Spencer?"

"Yes," he answered.

"Unless?"

"He says 'Do you want to see an explosion?" It was more of a warning to Reid than to Henry.

"And what do you say?" JJ asked.

"Not again, because you didn't clean up last time."

"Do you understand?" JJ asked Reid, to which he nodded and smiled as he remembered the last time he babysat. "Okay, give me a kiss," she said kneeling down to Henry's level. To which he kissed his mother on the lips. "Now go play," she motioned as she stood back up, and the little boy ran off to his room. "So we should be back before eleven. And if anything happens call."

"I know," Reid replied, before hearing a small not really concerning bang from Henry's room. "I'll go. You two have a good night."

"Thanks," she said as he began to walk down the hall. "Ready to go?" JJ asked turning her attention back to Will. "Are you okay?" she asked, seeing Will's face.

"2008," Will said.

"What?" JJ asked confused, that wasn't the answer she was expecting.

"Henry was born in November 2008."

"Oh," JJ said not knowing what else to say, she had been out of the room for two minutes at most, how did this happen?

"We only broke up in April, and that's only seven months. So, you were either lying to me back then about another guy, or you've been lying to me for the past six years. And I don't know which is easier to accept," Will said. He couldn't believe she had lied to him. He could have a son. That was hard enough to comprehend without thinking that one of the people he cared most about in the world lied to him.

JJ fell silent, either way her world was going to come crashing down. She couldn't just tell him now, she could tell he was angry, and this was certainly not how she wanted to tell him. So she did what she thought was best in that moment. "I was lying to you back then," JJ lied, she didn't know why, but this way was easier to explain, even if it was wrong.

"I can't be here," Will said walking out and slamming the door behind him.

"Will," JJ called as the door slammed shut. Her breath started to quicken, her hands covered her mouth, her stomach fell and she could feel the tears that were forming quickly. What had she just done?

"JJ?" Spencer said walking back out to the entrance way. "Where's Will?"

"He left," JJ answered, still not believing it herself.

"Why?"

"Because I lied to him," JJ whispered, she knew she had done wrong, but it was too late. JJ was falling apart. Spencer saw as the first tear fell down her cheek and quickly pulled her in for a hug, and she began to sob into his shoulder.

Soon after JJ pulled away and wiped the tears from her eyes and any remnants that she'd been crying off her face. "Thanks Spence, but you can go."

"Are you sure? I can stay. You could go find him and sort this out."

"No, it's fine. Go," JJ said. She didn't think anything she could say or do would help the situation, especially not tonight. Will would need time to process things. She also didn't think anything she could say would make him feel any better.

"Okay, I'll see you Monday," he said as he picked up his messenger bag. "And JJ, I'm sure it'll be all right," he said before leaving.

JJ walked down the hall to Henry's room, if he had heard what had just happened she would need to explain, and even if he hadn't he would have questions as to why the nights plans had changed, although that wasn't all that uncommon for him.

"Hey, little man," she said taking a seat on the bean bag on the floor.

"Why are you still here?" He asked surprised his mother was in his room and not Spencer.

"Ah change of plans."

"Do you have to go to work?"

"No, I'm here with you all night."

"What happened?"

"Just some grown up stuff."

"That you'll tell me about when I'm older?" JJ smirked at her son. She had given him that answer a lot of times, so he knew what it meant. He usually didn't ask any more questions.

"Someday," she nodded.

"Are you okay?" He asked sweetly.

"Yeah," she said unconvincingly as her voice cracked.

"Do you want a hug?" Henry could tell she was lying. He hated seeing his Mom sad, so he did what she would do if he was upset.

"That would be great," she answered and Henry jumped up and came to sit in her lap as she wrapped her arms around him. She held him tight, continuously kissing him on the forehead. She really needed this. Even on the worst night, a hug from her boy was all she really needed.

"I'm not older yet, but you can tell me what's wrong. I can keep a secret."

"No more secrets. Momma's hurt some really good people with secrets," she said, knowing she had done wrong.

"Why?" He asked looking up at her.

"I don't even know anymore."

"You can make it better. You make everything better."

"Thanks sweetie, but I don't know if I can fix this one."

"You gotta try," JJ just smiled at her son's words, he was very much passed his age in wisdom.

"I love you," she said kissing his forehead again.

"I love you too."


	10. Chapter 10

On Monday morning, after getting Henry to school, JJ headed to the Bureau for the new week ahead. She hadn't talked to Will or anyone since Saturday night. As soon as she got to level six she went straight to her office, not ready to deal with the team or the questions they might have had. She had been going through some new case files she had received when she heard a knock on the door.

"Yeah," she called out.

"How was your weekend?" Emily asked as she opened JJ's door. She had expected her friend to call her with the details of the date night, but she had no such luck.

"Did Reid say something to you?" JJ asked, though it wasn't like Reid, she hoped he hadn't turned into a gossip overnight. The last thing she needed was for the whole Bureau to know about the situation she was in.

"No? Why what happened?" She asked as she walked in and took a seat across from JJ.

"Nothing," JJ said quickly and Emily shot her a look that just said 'seriously'. JJ just sighed, knowing she had to tell her friend. "Will and I had plans for Saturday night."

"I know that. Was it bad?" Emily hoped for JJ's sake it wasn't. That past week Will and JJ had been dancing around each other, and she had been so happy when JJ said she had taken her advice and decided to give Will a shot.

"Worse," JJ said laying her head in her hands. "We didn't even make it out the door."

"Why?"

"Will met Henry," JJ explained looking back up.

"So? I don't understand".

JJ took a deep breath, she didn't know if she was ready for this, but she had to be. "I've been lying to _everyone _for a long time now," JJ said, not being able to meet Emily's eyes.

"What do you mean?" Emily asked, she didn't know where JJ was going with this. What had JJ been lying about? Why would she lie to everyone?

"I actually dated Will in 2007," JJ said for the first real time.

"What? You never said anything. Was it serious or just a fling?"

"Kind of serious. We dated for almost a year and broke up in April 2008," JJ explained, knowing that Emily would work out where she was going with this.

"So back then when I told you to date Will, the serious relationship you had just gotten out of was with Will?" Emily asked to which JJ just nodded. "Wait. April?" Emily repeated as she played JJ's words back over again. But she put the pieces together. "Will's Henry's father?"

"Yeah," JJ whispered shyly.

"Does he know?"

"He worked it out on Saturday night."

"So he now knows?"

"No, I said I cheated on him back then," JJ explained, and she knew Emily would frown upon that.

"JJ? Why?" She asked with a mix of sympathy and confusion in her voice.

"I panicked. He gave me a way out and I took it."

"You have to stop doing this. You can't keep lying to everyone. Not to the team, not to Will, or to Henry."

"I know, but I just keep getting deeper and deeper, and I don't know how to get out."

"You need to tell him," Emily said, it wasn't really a suggestion.

"I can't."

"You have to. Because Will's a good guy, and deserves to know he has a son. And Henry deserves to know his father."

"I've screwed everything up."

"Yeah, you have. But that doesn't mean you can't fix it," Emily said taking her friends hand. She wasn't angry at her, not at all. JJ had made a difficult decision back then, to not tell Will and to raise Henry alone. And although she might not have agreed with what she had done, she had always admired the way she had raised Henry and always looked put together and gave everything 100%.

"I don't know which situation is worse, the one I'm now, or back when I was pregnant and deciding if I should call him or not."

"I remember when you first told me you were pregnant," Emily started.

"_JJ, are you alright?" Emily asked following JJ into the bathroom at the station. But after hearing JJ start to throw up she knew it was a stupid question. Emily stayed around waiting for JJ to stop and come out. A couple of minutes later JJ was unlocking the cubicle door and washing her face over the basin. "I know this case has been difficult to say the least, but I've never seen you react this way before." _

"_I'm pregnant," JJ said wiping the water away from her face. She knew she couldn't keep it a secret much longer, and there wasn't really another way to explain what Emily just saw, or really heard._

"_What? How?" Emily asked surprised._

"_Ah…the normal way."_

"_No, I mean, who's the father?" Emily didn't think JJ was dating anyone, and JJ wasn't really the one-night stand kind of girl. _

"_A guy I was dating. But we broke up before I found out."_

"_Are you going to tell him?" Emily asked._

"_I don't know," JJ said honestly. She was torn between telling him or not. _

"_How far along are you?" _

"_Ten weeks, I've known for about four though," she answered. She and Will had been broken up for almost two months. The last two months had been a real adjustment. She had finally come to terms with the break up when she found out she was pregnant, and that started the whole process again, but this time it was far more difficult. She was always telling herself that she would call him 'tomorrow', but that hadn't seemed to work out so well yet. She always seemed to talk herself out of it._

"_I'm still in shock," Emily said. When she walked into the bathroom she never expected to be having this conversation._

"_You and me both," JJ nodded. _

"_Well congratulations, I guess," Emily said as she pulled JJ into a hug. She wouldn't say it, but she had no idea how her friend was going to do this. Balancing this job and a child alone, if she didn't end up telling the father, that is. _

"_Thanks," JJ said smiling as they pulled apart. She didn't want to let on how scared she really was. "Hey Em," she said. "Can you not tell anyone? I want to wait a little while longer and work things out before everyone finds out."_

"_Sure"._

"You didn't let on you were scared, but I could tell you were. You made a poor choice back then to not to tell Will, but you made the very best out of the situation. So just do that again."

"What if I can't?"

"There's no doubt it's going to be hard, but you have to do it. No matter how long it takes, you'll fix it. You just need to rip the band aid off already."

"Okay. I'll do it tomorrow," JJ said, she just hoped she wouldn't repeat her mistakes.

"Good."

…

After lunch JJ went back to working on her mountains of paperwork she always had. No matter how much she cleared away or the team solved, there always seemed to be just as many there as there was before. She hadn't stopped thinking about her and Emily's conversation. She knew Emily was right, but she didn't even know how to begin that conversation with Will. Should she call him, and if she did would he even answer her calls. Or should she go over to his place, though she didn't know where that was. Or head over to his precinct and hope he was there. Then she would have to work out what to say. She couldn't just blurt out 'Henry's your son'. She hated that she was in this position again.

She heard knocking on her door, and before she could even say anything the door was opening, and Will was coming into her office, and shutting the door behind him.

"Will? What are you doing here?" She asked standing up stunned that he was in her office.

"I needed to speak to you," he said coming towards her.

"How'd you get up here?" It probably wasn't the best question to ask right now, but she was still surprised to see him standing in front of her.

"My visitors pass," Will answered.

"You were meant to give that back," she was still not sure why she was talking about this, there was so much more important things to say, but she still hadn't found the words to say yet.

"Who cares about that right now? I need to tell you something. Something I wish I told you on Saturday night. But I'm here now," he said taking her hands in his.

"What is it?" JJ asked, she wasn't really sure how this was going to go.

"I don't care if you cheated on me six years ago. Because it was _six_ _years _ago. And if I have the chance to have you in my life again, I'm going to take it. I never stopped being in love with you. You're the girl I compare all other girls too, and no one's ever came close. I want to be with you. I want to try. I want to make this work. Because if you cheating on me six years ago is the worst I have to deal with, than that's fine by me."

He was a good guy. Emily was right, he didn't deserve this. Everything he said was perfect. She was at a loss for words but she knew she had to say something, so she said the first thing that came into her head. "I didn't cheat on you."

"What?" Will asked, somewhat shocked. He didn't expect that to be how she would reply.

"I'm a liar, but I'm not a cheater."

Will didn't say anything, he knew what she was saying. He was in disbelief. She lied to him. She lied to him every day of the past six years. He couldn't be here. He let go of her hands and walked back out the way he came, slamming the door behind him.


	11. Chapter 11

JJ cradled her head in her hands and she could see the tears falling on to the paper under her elbows. This wasn't how it was meant to go. That obviously wasn't the best way to tell him, but she couldn't believe he had just walked out without saying a word. JJ looked up after hearing the door open and slam shut again.

"What do you mean?" Will asked. He hadn't even got to the elevator before he turned around and came back needing real answers.

"I think you know what I mean," JJ said quickly wiping her eyes, and she was right, he did.

Will stood silently, still taking it in. He took a seat knowing he couldn't stand for much longer. He didn't know if he was more angry, surprised or confused. "How could you not tell me? Tell me you were pregnant? Tell me I had a son?"

"I'm so sorry," JJ said reaching across the table to take Will's hand, but he threw it away at the touch.

"I don't want to hear your apologies. I want to know how you could lie to me for six years."

"It's hard to explain, but I thought I was doing what was right."

"What was right? Not telling me I was a father was right? Having Henry grow up without a dad was right? How could you think any of this was right?"

"I didn't say it was right. I said 'I _thought _I was doing what was right'. Do you think I wanted it like this? I wanted to tell you. I wanted to tell you every day. But we broke up. And I knew I had to tell you, but I didn't know how to tell you, and each day I had my phone in my hand but I couldn't press 'call'. And then every day that went by it became impossible to call you. And then one year went by, and then two, and then five and then you were calling me. And I didn't know how to explain it so I lied."

"I understand you not telling me from when I called to now, but I don't understand you not calling me then."

"What was I meant to say? Just call you up and say 'Hey Will, I'm pregnant'?"

"Well that would have been a hell of a lot better than nothing."

"What would you have done? We couldn't make a relationship work long distance, how would we have raised a child together?"

"I don't know, but we would have worked something out."

"The same problems we had while we were dating would have been amplified with a child involved," JJ said.

"That would be true, except for the fact that you told me- that all those "problems" we were having, were all in your head."

"But at the time they were real to me," JJ replied.

"Did you break up with me because you were pregnant?" Will hoped the answer was 'no' but he needed to hear it.

"What? No. Maybe the hormones added to it a bit, but I didn't know I was pregnant until about a month after we separated."

"That makes me feel a little better, I guess. I just can't believe I have a son," Will said still trying to wrap his head around it. Will went silent again. And JJ didn't know what to say so the silence was awkward. "I want to meet him, for real this time, as his father. I want to be his Dad," Will said breaking the quiet.

"I understand that, but I got to think about Henry. I don't know how he's going to take having his father come into his life. So I would prefer to tell him without you there."

"I can't argue with that," it was probably better for JJ to tell him than a stranger. "Does he know about me?"

"Yeah, he's asked. And he knows as much as I feel a five year old should know."

"Like what?"

"That you don't know about him, but if you did you'd love him."

"Good. I want you to tell him tonight," Will said standing up to leave. He wanted to be alone and really come to terms with all this brand new information.

"Okay I will, but if for some reason Henry's not in good mood, I won't be telling him."

"Fine, just do it as soon as possible. And call me after," Will said walking to the door.

"I hate to ask this, because I feel like I know the answer, but what does this mean for us?" JJ asked as Will's hand reached for the door handle.

Will froze as he tried to best work out how to answer this. When he first walked in here today he had been all in for having a real relationship, but that was with the person he thought he knew and loved. But the JJ he thought he knew wouldn't have lied to him about something this big. The JJ he loved wouldn't have done this. "I can't trust you right now," he replied and walked out the door.

…

JJ arrived home at her normal time, and Henry was bouncing around with excitement when his mother walked through the door. JJ hoped nothing would change for the night so she could keep her word to Will. After dinner JJ knew it was time to talk to Henry about his father, so she quickly cleaned up the dishes while Henry went to play in the living room.

"I have to talk to you about something important," JJ said sitting down on the sofa.

"Am I in trouble?" Henry asked standing up from playing with his toys on the floor, though he wasn't sure what he had done.

"No, you haven't done anything," JJ said as she pulled Henry down on to her lap and kissed his forehead.

"Then what is it?" Henry asked looking up to his mother.

"Do you remember what I've told you about your dad?"

"Yeah," Henry nodded. "You said 'that you met while you were away working, and you loved each other, but you broke up, and then you found out about me. And he didn't know'."

"Right. And I didn't tell him because at the time I thought it was best for all of us," JJ had told Henry as much of the truth as possible, well as much as a child could understand. "And even though you were unexpected, you are loved, wanted and I wouldn't change how things happened," well if she could change things she would have told Will about Henry, or she wouldn't have broken up with him at all, but it was too late for that so they all had to accept that and move on. "I love you."

"I love you too. But why are we talking about this?" Henry asked. They didn't talk about his father often.

"Well, this is the thing I actually want to talk to you about," JJ started, she had been trying to find the right words to say to explain the situation as best as she could. "Your father moved to D.C. a while ago, and we've just gotten back in touch and he wants to know you," JJ smiled as she saw her son's eyes widen. Henry went silent. His father wanted to know him? He could have a father like the other kids in his class. But what if he didn't like his father? What if his father didn't like him? What if his father was mean and angry? What if he wanted to take him away? "Henry?" JJ asked after not getting a reply.

"Does he want to meet me?"

"He very much does."

"What if he doesn't like me?" Henry asked shyly.

"How could he not? But you have met him if that makes you feel better."

Henry thought of all the men in his life, but the only one that stood out to him was the man who was in the apartment on the weekend. He was the only new person in his mother's life. "Is it the man who was here on the weekend?" Henry asked.

"Yes," JJ answered. She was surprised he knew who she was talking about, though it wouldn't have been too hard to figure out.

"But he made you sad," Henry said remembering back to how his mother came in to his room and they sat just like they were right now.

"No sweetie, he didn't, I did. Remember how I said 'I had hurt some good people'? He was the person I hurt, by not telling him about you." JJ didn't want to poison the well between Henry and Will, so she never said anything bad about Will, though if she did, she'd be lying.

"Is he nice?"

"He really is."

"When can I see him?" Henry wasn't sure what having a father would mean, but he was excited to find out.


	12. Chapter 12

JJ was happy that Henry didn't hate the idea. His excitement made all of her anxiety about the situation disappear. She waited until Henry was in bed to call Will and tell him how it went. Henry kept asking questions about his father, some were easier to answer than others. So finally, after what felt like a thousand questions and his regular bedtime story it was an hour and a half after his bed time when he had settled down to sleep.

JJ took her phone with her to bed, knowing after the call she would be going to sleep as well. She hadn't even brought her usual amount of paperwork home with her. Today had been a very emotionally draining day. Actually the past few days had been, but this one had been one hit after another. She had kept Henry's paternity secret for almost six years, and in one day, three of the people who meant the most to her knew, and she was still working out how to deal with it.

"Hey," JJ said, when he answered his phone.

"Did you tell him?" Will asked, he wasn't in the mood the exchange pleasantries. He was still coming to terms with the news he had gotten less than twelve hours ago. Plus he was still unsure on how he felt about JJ.

"I did," she replied.

"And?" Will pushed. He held his breath waiting for her to answer. What if he didn't want to meet him?

"He's excited to meet you", Will thought that the second it took JJ to answer lasted an eternity. But hearing those words shook the sickened feeling he had away. "I told him it wouldn't be until the weekend though," JJ added, she and Will hadn't discussed how the meeting would go.

"The weekend? That's still a week away," Will replied. The last weekend was closer than the next. He just wanted to be in his son's life now. He had already missed more than five years. "Why not during the week?"

"I just thought the weekend would be best for all of us," but she hadn't given Henry a definitive answer, because she knew she needed to discuss it with Will and she never really gave Henry a definite dates, cause she hated breaking promises.

"Why not Wednesday, or even tomorrow. Why the weekend?"

"Henry has school, and we have work," she said reminding him.

"Right", Will said remembering. "What if you get a case over the weekend? What happens then?" He remembered back from when they were dating that a weekend case wasn't a rarity.

"I guess we'd have to push it until the next weekend," JJ answered, she knew he wouldn't like that but, it was the only other solution she could think of.

"No, I don't what to push it back," Will said, the weekend was already far too far away for him. "What about the person who looks after him while you're away? Couldn't they bring him over?"

"No," JJ replied straight forward. "You're not meeting him without me there. Yeah, you're his biological father, but right now he doesn't know who you are, and I'm not putting him in that situation."

Will sighed, he knew she was right, but that didn't mean he like the situation. "So what do you suggest then?"

"You come over Saturday?" It wasn't so much a plan as an idea.

"I'm working until 3:30," Will replied dejectedly. He might be able to switch his shift around, if he talked to the right guy though.

"Well, what about after?" JJ asked, not sure if he thought about that.

"Right, after," Will said perking back up. "'After' sounds great."

"That will actually work out well for us," JJ said, she and Henry had their traditional Saturday morning in the park. "Plus I think for the first visit a shorter one would be best. Just to get you both to the same place, and work out where to go from there."

"I know where I want to go. I want to be his father."

"I know you do, and it will happen. But over time. We can't start all in."

"Why not?" Will asked. He wanted to. Why didn't she?

"There's just a lot of things we will need to talk about before getting to that place. Like what does you being a father really mean? Or the transition for Henry and how he'll take to it. And then there's visitation and custody which we'd need to work out. And I'm trying to take your feelings into account here, because I know you're not the reason we're in this situation, I am. But I'm not going to let what you want, overshadow what Henry needs," JJ explained. She was trying to make this as civil and easy as possible for all of them, just in case Will wanted to take legal action, which she was sure he wouldn't, but she couldn't be completely certain.

Will was silent just trying to take in what she was saying. This was certainly not a normal situation and they definitely did have a lot to talk about before anything would be really worked out. "We're gonna need to work all that out I agree, but I don't think we're gonna get anything worked out in one night or over the phone."

"Okay, so what are you suggesting?"

"We talk on or after Saturday in person, and see what we can work out. And we both figure out what we want before then, so we have somewhere to start when we do talk," Will answered.

"Sounds like a good idea," JJ said, but she already knew what she wanted. She wanted Henry to be happy and comfortable with the changes that were going to go on in his life. And she wanted Will. It would have been easier if all those old feelings hadn't returned and she'd been able to keep them away like she had for so long. She didn't know how to turn them off now that they were open and out there, and she wasn't sure she wanted to. "I guess we'll talk later."

"Yeah, night JJ."

"Good night Will," JJ replied before hanging up the phone and settling into bed. The day was over but she knew the real struggles were just about to begin.


	13. Chapter 13

JJ hadn't slept well the night before, she was nervous about how the Will's and Henry's meeting would go the next day. Henry was super excited. He even tidied up all his toys, which were usually lying across his bedroom, and sometimes the living room floor, without JJ having to ask him. The whole team now knew Will was Henry's father, a mystery they hadn't been able to work out since JJ announced her pregnancy. She was going to keep it between Emily and herself until the time came but after the team got a case on Friday afternoon she decided to tell Hotch to see if she could stay behind because Henry was meeting his father. Hotch was understanding but wasn't sure on it, but JJ explained that this would most probably stop her from not needing to stay behind as often. So Hotch agreed. Having the media liaison there for all cases from here on was worth her missing this one now. After their meeting JJ decided that she should just tell everyone. All were shocked at the discovery but not all that surprised-they weren't sure how but they could tell that JJ and Will weren't just old work acquaintances.

Henry was so eager that from getting home, from the morning in the park, he would look out the window whenever he heard a car. After about ten times of saying 'he doesn't finish work until 3.30pm' JJ just gave up and laughed. And from three thirty he didn't take his eyes of the window. JJ was glad Henry semi knew what his dad looked like otherwise every other second would have been 'is that him?'

Will and JJ had only talked one other time during the week. Will called to see if he needed to bring anything but JJ said they would just be staying in, as the weather didn't have the best forecast for the afternoon. There had been a few texts making sure it was still going ahead, but other than that JJ had wanted to give Will some space.

At ten to four Henry's smile and eyes widen to fill his face, and JJ could tell that meant only one thing. Henry ran to the door and JJ followed a little after knowing it would take Will a couple more minutes to get up to the apartment. Henry was bouncing with excitement as he heard the door knock. JJ looked through the peep hole even though she knew who it was. Suddenly Henry became nervous and hid behind his mother's legs. She couldn't help but laugh, he hadn't done that in so long.

"What are you doing?" JJ asked amused.

"Nothing," Henry replied shyly still holding onto her jeans.

JJ smiled and shook her head as she opened the door. She knew she didn't need to talk to him, because within a minute he would be back to his regular bouncy and jumpy self.

"Hi, how was work?" JJ asked stepping aside to let Will in, Henry following behind her.

"Dragged on. A lot of paper work" Will answered smiling down at the boy hiding behind his mother. Truthfully it only felt like it dragged on because he had so wanted to get here and kept looking at the clock every five or so minutes.

JJ nodded knowing exactly how that felt. JJ looked down at Henry and gave him an encouraging smile before closing the door, but Henry didn't let go of her leg. "Sorry," JJ mouthed to Will.

Will decided to just go for it, he bent down to Henry's level and held his hand out to take. "Hi Henry, I'm Will."

Henry took a step away from his mother and took Will's hand. "That's my middle name," Henry said in response as he came out of his sudden shell.

"Really?" Will asked smile at his son and then looked at JJ with an inquisitive smirk.

"Well, it's actually William," JJ said biting her lip shyly to Will.

"Yeah, but you said that about Will in my class."

"It's a nickname, like sometimes I call you 'Hen', because it's a shortened version of your name, and not because you're a female chicken," JJ replied looking down to her son.

"Then it's almost my middle name," Henry said looking back at Will.

"It's a good name," Will replied not being able to hide his grin.

"Henry would you like to lead Will in to the living room?" JJ asked, thinking they probably didn't want to stay in the hallway all afternoon.

"Okay, I can show you my trucks, they're really cool."

"I bet they are," Will said walking alongside JJ as they followed their son to the living room. "So, William?" Will grinned.

"Well you are his father, and seeing as you're a 'junior', I guessed it was a family name," JJ answered. She wanted Henry to have some tie to his father, even if he didn't know it. Plus at the time of his birth JJ was still planning to possibly call Will.

"It is, thank you," Will had always wanted his son to be a 'William' as well, but not after himself, but as a memory to his father, so the fact that he was, made Will all the more pleased. Additionally it showed JJ was really thinking about Will at the time like she had said she'd been.

"Okay, well I'll leave you two to it," JJ said as they reached the living room. Henry was already sitting on the floor getting his trucks out. JJ and Henry had discussed how today would go. She would leave Henry and Will alone in the living room while she watched on from the kitchen. She thought that was best for father/son bonding, especially when the father part and her were still on the somewhat outs. She also had brought a lot of files home with her as a make up for not going on the case. Though it wasn't like Hotch would know how much she would and would not have done.

"Woah, are these all yours?" Will asked sitting down on the carpet next to his son.

"I have more in my room, but they don't get along," Henry said, and Will just nodded along guessing it was a story he had made up.

"Which one's your favorite?" Will asked.

"This one," Henry said reaching across the toys and holding it up to show him proudly.

"Why's that?"

"It's red."

"Is that your favorite color?"

"Uh ha, and it makes it go faster," Henry said moving it through the air quickly. "Which is your favorite?" Henry asked.

"Well I don't know if I have a favorite yet, but this one looks cool," Will said picking one up in front of him. "It reminds me of one my granddaddy had when I was younger, we got to ride in it when he visited."

"Yeah that one I like a lot too," Henry said.

"I like this one as well," Will added picking another one up. "We drive these at work a lot."

"Really? That's cool! Mom said 'you're a policeman'."

"Yeah, I'm a detective."

"Is that like what Mom does? Cause she said you met while working."

"Kind of, just your Mom's jobs a lot harder than mine," Will answered and Henry nodded along.

"I want to catch bad guys when I grow up," Henry said moving his toy across the carpet.

"It's a lot of work", Will said and Henry looked up. "But you'll be good at it," Will winked. "And my Daddy was a Detective too, so it's in your genes," Will said with a large smile on his face, and Henry had one of equal size.

…

"Where's the bathroom?" Will asked Henry while they were playing. Will wasn't sure how long he'd been there, it hadn't felt long, but he was so eager to leave the precinct that he'd forgotten the last time he went to the toilet.

"It's over there," Henry said pointing passed his mother.

"Thanks, I'll be back," Will said though he didn't know exactly where Henry was pointing, but he walked towards JJ anyway.

"It's straight through," JJ said pointing through the door behind her as she had overheard Will's question and Henry's lack of answer.

"Thanks," Will said walking in that direction.

Henry ran over to his mother, while Will was in the bathroom. "I like him," he whispered.

"I'm glad," JJ replied, giving him a side hug and kissing him on the forehead. "So you're having fun?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "He knows way more than you do about cars and trucks."

"I bet he does," JJ laughed. "Why were you so shy when he got here?" she asked.

"I don't know," Henry answered honestly. He didn't know why he had hidden behind his mother's legs, it just happened.

"But you're okay now?" JJ asked and Henry nodded with a smile. "Good. So you're okay with seeing him more?"

"Yeah," he said nodding faster than before.

"He'll be so happy to hear that."

"What do I call him?" Henry asked.

"Sweetie you can call him whatever you want. 'Will' or 'Dad' or-" JJ started but couldn't think of a third option. "He'll like either."

"Okay," Henry answered. But after hearing the toilet flush he ran back into the living room and sat back down.

"He likes you," JJ said when Will walked passed.

"I like him."

…

"Do you guys need anything?" JJ asked coming into lounge and checking in on the boys. Will had already been there at least two hours and after working almost nonstop for it, she thought a break was well deserved.

"Juice, please," Henry said happily.

"I'm fine, thank you," Will answered.

"Are you sure? I'm making coffee anyway."

"Uhhh," Will said giving JJ a weird look, but she knew what it meant.

"I'll make it weak just for you," JJ answered rolling her eyes.

"Okay then. Yeah sounds good," he smiled, he had an early morning, so a Cup of Joe would do nicely right about now.

JJ walked off shaking her head as she went, Will hadn't changed. A while later JJ came in carrying two mugs in her hands and a juice box between her arm and her chest. She handed the mug to Will before handing Henry his juice.

"Thank you," Henry said taking the straw off the side of the box.

"Woo," Will said taking a sip.

"Seriously?" JJ asked. "You're a light weight,"

"No you're just super human. What is your stomach made of? Iron?"

"Almost seven years and you're still using the 'it's gonna burn a hole in your stomach' joke?"

"What can I say-once a classic, always a classic."

"Did you want me to get you some more sugar or milk?"

"Nah I'm fine," he said taking another sip and putting it on the coffee table.

"Mom can Dad stay for dinner?" Henry asked, and Will was overjoyed by the name he was just given. He hadn't expected that. JJ was glad Henry had settled on the better option of the two. Truthfully it would have been strange to hear 'Will' come out of her son's mouth. But neither she nor Will, wanted to push it on him, they both thought it was his decision to make.

"I have no problem with that. I was just going to order a pizza," JJ said to Will.

"Then I'd love to stay," Will answered.


	14. Chapter 14

"He's asleep," JJ said as she looked down at her boy laying his head in her lap. Henry had convinced Will to stay after dinner and watch a movie, but by the end credits he was out of it. "I'm going to put him to bed," she added as she carefully picked up her son so not to wake him.

"I should get going then," Will said standing up, thinking that now Henry had gone to sleep there wasn't much reason to stay around.

"No don't," she said changing Henry's position in her arms. "You said we should talk when were next together, why not tonight?"

"Ah yeah, okay," he said taking his seat again. He really wanted to get everything sorted out as soon as possible.

"I'll be back in a minute," JJ replied walking out the room and down the hall to Henry's room. She tapped the door open with her foot so not to have to rearrange the boy again and then walked over to his bed. She laid him down and pulled his covers up, before giving him a kiss on the forehead. "Good night, I love you," she whispered, before walking back out and leaving the door slightly ajar.

"He went down okay?"

"Yeah, didn't even stir. I think we wore him out," she answered. The situation felt somewhat tense. This was the first time they had be alone together since Will found out about Henry.

"He's a great kid," Will said.

"He is," she agreed.

"You did a real good job raising him up," he admitted.

"Thank you," she said taking the compliment. Other people had told her that, but coming from Will, it meant a whole lot more.

"Just wish I could have been a part of it," Will said and JJ lowered her head. She knew it was unlikely but she hoped one day he would forgive her.

"He's only five, just think of all the things you won't miss because you _are_ now a part of it," JJ said, she knew it wouldn't make up for those five years but it was something.

"Yeah, but what about his first smile, first steps, first words, first day of school? I wasn't there for any of that."

"I'm sorry," JJ was sure that wasn't going to be the only time she said that tonight.

"And all the little moments. Him sleeping in your bed because he's scared, or hiding behind your legs cause there's a stranger. Or all those other little things that I don't know about because I wasn't there."

"Do you want me to apologize again?" She asked, not knowing what else to say.

"No, I want you to tell me everything."

"What?" she questioned perplexed.

"I want to know everything."

"Everything?"

"Start from the beginning," he answered. He didn't want her to leave anything out.

JJ nodded and took the seat across from Will. "Okay. This is about a month after we broke up. I couldn't keep any food down. I thought I had the flu that just wouldn't go away, so I went to my doctor."

"_So what brings you in today?" Dr Shey asked. JJ had used the same doctor since she had moved to D.C. but she never was all that sick, so the most she ever came was once a year._

"_For the past few weeks I haven't been able to sleep, or keep any food down. And you're just going to tell me it's the flu and tell me to drink lots of water and rest. I just want to know why I'm feeling like this."_

"_You said a couple weeks already?" Dr Shey didn't know her patient all that well, but she did know she didn't come in for the common cold._

"_Two, three weeks, maybe."_

"_I have to ask, is there any chance you're pregnant?" JJ didn't answer. She hadn't even thought of that, but it could explain it all. "Jennifer?" Dr Shey said trying to get JJ's attention back._

_JJ swallowed the lump in her throat before answering. "Um yeah. I could be."_

"_Okay let's run some tests then."_

…

"_Congratulations," Dr Shey said looking at the blood test results she had just gotten back. "You are pregnant."_

"_Okay," JJ didn't know what else to say. She had tried to convince herself that it would all be alright if she was actually pregnant, but right now she didn't know how to feel._

"_Is this good news?"_

"_Yeah," she said hastily._

"_Are you sure?"_

"_I have mixed feelings," JJ said honestly._

"_Why's that?"_

"_The father and I broke up a month ago, and he lives in Louisiana. So I really don't know how to tell him, or if to tell him."_

"_Unfortunately only you can make that decision."_

"_I know," JJ said placing a hand on her flat stomach._

…

_JJ sat on her bed reading over some pamphlets and brochures the doctor had given her for over an hour now, every ten or so minutes she looked at the phone next to her, and she knew she had to make the call. She had scrolled through her contacts. It was strange not seeing 'Will' in the recent calls log. Her finger would slide across the call button, she almost wished she would accidently hit it, because she knew she couldn't do it by her own free will. When the screen would go black from lack of use, she would throw it back down on her bed. She lost count on how many times she had done that._

…

"_You're telling Hotch now?" Emily asked. She was still the only person who knew about the pregnancy._

"_It's three months today. I can't keep it secret much longer," JJ explained, placing a hand on her growing stomach. _

"_Do you want me to come in there with you?" Emily asked._

"_No," she replied, it was sweet of Emily to offer, but she had to do it alone. "I'm a big girl, I can handle it."_

"_Okay, come find me as soon as you're done," Emily said, she wanted the details. JJ nodded, and walked in the direction of the boss' office._

"_Come in," Hotch called after JJ knocked on his door. "Do we have a case?" He asked seeing the media liaison come in. _

"_No, I just need to talk to you about something important."_

"_What is it?" He questioned and motioned for her to take a seat. _

"_In about six months I'm going to need some time off," JJ had been going over how she was going to tell him for a couple of days, this however was not what she had settled on. She didn't know why it came out her mouth now._

"_Why's that?" He asked. JJ never asked for time off, and making plans that far in advance was unheard of._

"_I'm Pregnant," she answered. And Hotch's face dropped in confusion, so she went on. "I'm three months, and the father's no longer in my life anymore, so I'll be doing it alone. And I don't want to leave the BAU, or my position, and I'm telling you now so I can have a plan ready."_

"_When you walked in I was not expecting this," Hotch said, still wrapping his head around the media liaison being pregnant._

"_Yeah, me neither," JJ laughed, it had taken her a couple weeks to get used to it herself._

"_You're going to do it alone?"_

"_Yeah," she answered._

"_Well if you need anything, ask. I'm more than happy to help you out in any way," Hotch said, out everybody on the team, he understood what she would be going through. He and Haley had been divorced for half a year or so, and he had Jack over as often as he could. He knew it was going to be difficult for JJ, and she wasn't one to ask for help, so it was up to him to offer._

"_Thank you, I'll probably take you up on that."_

…

"_Thanks for coming with me," JJ said as she and Emily sat in the doctor's waiting room. _

"_You think I would want to miss this?" Emily asked taking her friends hand._

"_Jennifer, we're ready for you," the ultrasound technician said as she came up to the two women. They got up simultaneously and followed the women into the room. JJ lied down on the bed and pulled her shirt up. "Okay, here we go," the technician said squirting the goo onto the evident bump. JJ didn't take her eyes off the screen and she loved hearing the sound of her baby's heartbeat. "Everything looks good," she said taking the different angle pictures. "Did you want to find out the gender?"_

"Did you?" Will asked, interrupting JJ's storytelling.

"Yeah. I wanted to be as prepared as possible. My Mom said I should wait, that the surprise would bring great joy, but I didn't want to wait, and knowing was comforting," JJ answered.

"Did you want a boy?"

"Truthfully, at the time I wanted a girl, but that was because having a boy felt daunting."

"How so?" Will asked.

"I grew up in an all-girl family. I only have nieces, and the only children I had ever babysat were girls, so I felt like I'd be a little over my head with a boy," JJ answered honestly.

"I'd have been like that with a girl. I only have a brother."

"So you understand," she smiled, scared that saying she had wanted a girl would make Will think less of her.

"Yeah," he nodded. "And I'm sorry for interrupting you, go on."


	15. Chapter 15

"Okay, so where was I?" JJ asked thinking back to the part of the story she was up to.

"The ultrasound," Will answered, reminding her.

"Right," she nodded. "So the ultrasound technician asked if I wanted to know the sex."

"_Did you want to find out the gender?"_

"_Yes," JJ answered quickly. She had made the decision the day she found out she was pregnant. When her Mom said she shouldn't, she pretended to play with the idea, for her Mom's benefit, but it didn't change her mind. _

"_Congratulations, you're having a boy," she said._

"_A boy?" JJ said a little in shock, which she shouldn't have been, there was a 50% chance it could go that way._

"_You're having a baby boy," Emily said, still holding JJ's hand. She did know that JJ was hoping for a girl, but she knew she wouldn't love having a son any less._

"_Yeah," JJ smiled. She had wanted a girl but all she really wanted was a healthy baby, and that was so far was the case._

…

"_So what are we having?" Morgan asked seeing the two female agents walk in. JJ decided to ignore the 'we', it wasn't like she was having the team's mascot, but she liked that they felt included._

"_It's a boy," she answered placing a hand on her stomach._

"_Cause we haven't got enough men around here already," Penelope said joking._

"_Well's he's not coming here to work," JJ said smiling. It was the first time she had said 'he', and she liked the feeling. Suddenly having a boy didn't feel so daunting. _

"_Well that doesn't matter, I'm going to spoil him when he comes," Penelope said, coming over to give JJ a hug._

"_That I do not doubt," JJ smiled as she hugged her friend. "My Mom's already started knitting booties."_

"_Booties," Penelope squealed with excitement. "I cannot wait to start buying all the adorable baby clothes."_

"_I promise you can come when I go," JJ said, knowing that would make her friend happy. "Is Hotch in his office?" She asked looking up to the closed door._

"_Where else would he be?" Morgan answered. "Why?"_

"_He wanted to speak to me when I got back," she explained before walking to the boss's office. She knocked on the door, before walking in and taking a seat._

"_You're back," Hotch said looking up to see the media liaison walking to his desk. "Were you able to find out?" He asked._

"_It's a boy," she answered._

"_Good. That's good," he said with a proud smile on his face._

"_Is that why you wanted to see me?" JJ asked, not really sure why she was sitting here._

"_Ah yes and no. Haley kept a lot of Jack's baby gear, you know, just in case, and we still have it in the shed at the house, and we were talking and we wanted to offer it to you, even more so now you know what you're having."_

"_Really?" JJ said surprised. "That would be great," she added quickly. It would be a huge relief and a huge weight lifted off her shoulders. She had been looking forward to going shopping for it all, but buying everything was going to cost a small fortune and she needed to save as much money as she could, to afford a full time nanny, plus Jack's things wouldn't be all that dated._

"_You don't have to take it all, but we can find a time when we're all free you can come take a look and take what you think you'll need."_

"_Thank you so much," JJ said, she blinked back some happy tears, which she put down to hormones. "You have no idea how much this means to me."_

"_Don't even worry about it, like I said 'I'm happy to help'."_

…

"_Thanks again," JJ said after the final load of gear had gone to the cars. It had taken a few weeks to find a weekend that worked for all of them._

"_Please, you're taking it off my hands. You're doing me a favor," Haley said. "How far a long are you now?" _

"_Almost six months," she answered placing both hands on her stomach. It had gone so quickly, but yet it hadn't, and she couldn't imagine getting any bigger than she was now, but she knew it was going to happen. _

"_Almost in the home stretch," Haley said. "Good thing you're getting ready now, the last few months go by so fast, before you know it you'll be in a hospital bed with a little bundle in your arms."_

"_Oh that's a scary thought," JJ said, she didn't want it to go by fast. She wanted as much time as she could before she gave birth. _

"_You'll do great," Haley reassured her. "Also with the crib, we lost the instruction manual for it, but Aaron should remember how to put it together."_

"_He's already offered," JJ said, but she wasn't so sure if she wanted to take him up on it, he was already doing so much for her. She would never be able to repay him._

"_Well take him up on it. I tried putting it together, when I was a lot less far along, and I gave up more times than I care to admit. Then he gets home from a case and puts it together in less than a half hour. I hated him a little in that moment," Haley said, and both women laughed. _

…

"_So the witnesses said the same thing- that the UnSub-" JJ starting saying before a sharp pain shot through her stomach. She had been having them for a couple of hours but she had been able to successfully ignore them, but this one had been by far the worst, and she really couldn't ignore them anymore. _

"_Was that a contraction?" Emily asked, a little worried for her friend. _

"_I want to say 'yes', because if it wasn't, I really don't want to know what they feel like," she said taking a deep breath and rubbing her stomach. He was early. She was told it could happen, especially the added stress of the job. Thankfully it was a local case. This was going to be her last case to make sure she wouldn't have to give birth in another city or without her doctor. _

"_We have to get you to a hospital." Emily said._

"_No, we can't stop working, and there still far apart," she said trying to convince her friend._

"_That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard you say. We're going now," Emily said, not taking no for an answer. _

…

_JJ looked down at her baby, he was beautiful. She didn't want to let him go. He was near perfect. She could hear everybody coming into the room. Emily had been in the delivery room with her the entire time. And the team had been in the waiting room from as soon as they arrested the UnSub. She looked up as the team piled into the small room, she couldn't imagine anyone else being able to fit in._

"_Meet Henry William," she said as they crowded around the bed._

"I wish I could have been there," Will said interrupting again. "It just something I would have really have liked to see."

"Actually," she started. "I know it doesn't make up for it but I have videos on my laptop, you know if you want to see them."

"Yes," Will said faster than JJ knew was possible.

"Okay then I'll go get my laptop," JJ said getting up and going into her room before coming back. She took her seat back and opened he laptop to turn it on. Will stood from his chair and came to sit next to JJ on the sofa. "What do you want to watch?" JJ asked opening the folder with all the videos of Henry.

"Everything," Will said, making JJ laugh as she opened the first video.

"_Say 'Mom'," JJ said holding the camera in front of her son. He had been saying it earlier, but she wasn't sure he would now that he had the camera in his face. _

"_Mmmom," Henry tried saying._

"_Good boy," JJ said clapping with the camera still in her hands, and then kissing him on the cheek. _

…

"_Quickly," JJ called as Emily started recording. "Come here Henry," she said as she motioned for him to come over to her. He took a tentative step, and then another. "Come on," she said as he took another toward his mother. "I feel like I'm talking to a dog," JJ said to Emily._

_Emily laughed at JJ's comment, she was glad she got that on camera. "He's doing well,' Emily said._

"_You're so close," JJ said to Henry when he was within a few feet of her. A few more steps and he was there. "You did it!" She said as she picked him up from the ground and tossed him in the air. Henry shrieked in happiness. After a couple of throws she cuddled her son and he leaned into his mother._

"Is that your old apartment?" Will asked surprised to see it in the video.

"Ah yeah," JJ said getting ready to play the next video.

"Wasn't that a one bedroom?" He said trying to remember back to the last time he was there.

"Yeah," she nodded.

"Where'd did Henry sleep?" Will asked confused.

"In his crib in my room. With some rearrangement of furniture the room was big enough."

"Why didn't you move to a bigger place?"

"Rent was cheap, plus a move would have been hard to organize at the time."

"When did you move out of there?"

"When Henry was about two, when he started to walk I knew it was time to move into a bigger place. But until then it really wasn't needed," she said, she didn't know what Will's was thinking but she wouldn't change the way she did things.

"Then you moved in here?"

"Yeah." After about fifteen seconds of silence, JJ played the next video.

_The team sang Happy Birthday as the now one year old sat on his mother's lap with a cake in front of him. JJ picked him up as they both leant over the table. Henry didn't know what to do so JJ blew out his one candle. As JJ took the candle off the cake ready to cut it up, Henry swatted the cake right in the center._

_JJ and the team just laughed as Henry clawed a handful size out of the center and put it in his mouth but most of it was just smooshed on his face, but he couldn't be happier so JJ just smiled as her son did it again. _

"_Hope no one else wanted any," JJ joked as she picked up the pieces that were falling on her._

"He's an amazing kid. Why didn't you call?" Will asked after the last video was finished.

"I did," she started, she had forgotten up until now, it was one of those memories she had buried away. "I did call."

"What? When?" He asked confused.

"A couple of years ago. It was Henry's third birthday, and we were at the park celebrating," she began to explain as it came back to her. "And he came up to me, and I don't remember what he said, but he smiled. He smiled at me, and all I could see was you," she said recalling the memory. "And he looks so much like me, it was the first time I had seen any of you in him. So once he was in bed I decided to call. I was terrified. I didn't know what you were going to say, I didn't even know what I was going to say. And the phone rang and rang until a woman answered. And to me it was a sign. A sign I shouldn't tell you, and that you had moved on with your life, and I didn't want to disturb it. So I said I had the wrong number and hung up."

"When was this?" Will asked.

"Ah…November 2011", she answered, doing the math quickly.

"I moved up here in June that year, I don't know who that woman was," Will said dejectedly. He could have had two extra years with his son.

"I'm sorry," JJ apologized knowing what Will was thinking. JJ looked down at the time in the lower right hand corner of the screen. It was a lot later than she thought it was. "That got late fast," JJ said.

"What?" Will asked looking down as the time for himself. "Wow, I should probably get going."

"But we didn't talk about what we're going to do," JJ said, that was the whole reason he stayed in the first place, so they could work everything out.

"I know, but how are we meant to work out anything substantial at midnight? Especially when I'm guessing we've both been up since about 6am or close to it."

"Well we have to work out a time to talk."

"I'll call you."

"I thought you didn't want to do it over the phone?"

"I'll call you, so we can work out a time."

"Okay," JJ said agreeing, she was kind of glad, she didn't know how much later she would be able to stay up. "I'll lead you out then," JJ said as she closed her laptop and put it down on the coffee table before standing up and walking behind Will to the entrance way.

"Thank you for doing this," Will said. He could tell JJ was trying to make this as easy as possible, even though it was a difficult situation for them all.

"Of course,"


	16. Chapter 16

"I want everyone to go home, we'll leave first thing in the morning," Hotch said at the end of the briefing. A new case had come across JJ's desk at about twenty to five, it seemed too urgent to put off working on until the next day. She had texted Danielle saying she would be definitely staying late and might have to go away on case. Though when Hotch said they wouldn't leave until the morning, she was glad she would be able to give Danielle the night off. She felt horrible when she couldn't give her some real notice at her work schedule. Though it was a lot harder before Henry was in school.

JJ stayed back an extra half hour getting everything sorted out before they left in the morning. Finally she was able to leave, she picked up her bag, closed her office up and headed to the elevator. "You're leaving?" JJ asked seeing Hotch waiting when she got there.

"Wanted to get back before Jack went to bed," he explained, JJ nodded along understanding exactly what he was talking about. "How's everything going with Henry and Will?" He asked as the elevator doors opened.

"Ah good," JJ answered as they walked into the elevator. "He's a really good father, and Henry absolutely adores him." It had been a few weeks since Will and Henry had properly met. Will had come over each weekend and even some week nights after JJ had gotten home for the night. And if he wasn't coming over he was calling to check on him and to talk about how Henry's day had been. Unfortunately for JJ seeing this side of Will had not made any of her feelings for Will disappear. There had been so many occasions when she wanted to talk to him about it, but the timing never seemed right. "It's all seemed to work out better than I could have hoped for. I'm just so glad Henry accepted it as well as he did, it could have end disastrously, or it could have taken a lot longer to get to where we are".

"Well that's also an ode to how well you raised him. Not many people would have been able to do what you have done," Hotch said. JJ was touched by his kind words.

"Thank you," she managed to get out. "I wouldn't have been able to do it without you."

"Me?" He asked shocked.

"Yeah. You helped me more than you'll ever know. You helped me while I was pregnant and showed me how I could possibly find a balance between working this job and being a single parent. You were better than any baby book could have been," she explained. She thought she should have told him how thankful she was a thousand times over but this had been one of the first times the subject ever came up naturally.

"I had no idea you thought that, but you're definitely more than welcome," Hotch said as the elevator doors opened up.

…

"I'm home," JJ called out as she walked into the apartment. Henry ran from his bedroom to greet his mother. "Hey little man", she said bending down to his level and giving him a quick peck on the lips. "Where's Danielle?" She asked her son.

"The kitchen. She's not feeling well," Henry said.

"Oh no," she said playing down her worry for Henry's sake. Henry followed his mother through the living room until they found his nanny. "Are you okay?" JJ asked hoping she was.

Danielle lifted her head of the table. Her eyes watered at the light, and she had a bunch of tissues in her hand. "I've felt better," she croaked out.

"Henry, go back and play," JJ instructed her son. Henry listened to his mother and ran back to his room. "Why didn't you say something?" She asked sympathetically.

"I was fine, and then it suddenly came over me after I picked Henry up. I had him stay in his room as much as I could, so he hopefully won't catch anything," she said.

"Okay, I want you to go home and get better, take the next few days off," JJ said.

"But you have to go away tomorrow."

"You don't need to worry about that," JJ said, though she wasn't sure Hotch would appreciate the late change, she knew he would understand.

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. I want you to get better."

"Thank you JJ," Danielle said picking up her things, she was quite relieved she knew when she got like this it would last at least a couple of days, and she really didn't want to get Henry sick on top of it.

"Not a problem. Get well," she said as she watched the nanny leave. "Hen," JJ said as she walked to his room and taking a seat on his beanbag.

"Is Danielle going to be okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, though I told her to take the next couple of days off."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that I'll be here instead," she answered.

"Like on the weekends?"

"Yeah just like that."

"That's good," he smiled. Henry much preferred the weekends when his mother was home.

"Okay, I have to go make a phone call. Did get any work sheets today?" JJ asked and Henry nodded, and he walked over to his book bag. "I'll come help you once I've finished," JJ said as she left the room and headed to her own.

She walked over to her cupboard and started to get changed out of her office wear. She was unbuttoning her shirt when her phone started to ring.

"Hey," she answered after looking at the caller id. "Can you hold on for a second," she said putting the phone down. She quickly finished changing into something more comfortable before picking up the phone again. "Hey, sorry. How are you?" She asked sitting down on her bed.

"I'm good," Will replied. "How's everything on your end?"

"I actually only just got home."

"That's later than you have been."

"Yeah, we got a case right before five, but Hotch said we'd leave tomorrow," she responded.

"Oh, so you won't be home for the next few days," he said, he knew that meant he wouldn't be able to see or talk to his son until she got back.

"Well, actually I'm staying behind. Henry's nanny was sick when I got home, so I was actually about to call Hotch and tell him I couldn't go."

"Well what if I looked after him?" Will asked, they had floated around with the idea in theory, but he knew JJ might not be 100% comfortable with it because it was extremely unplanned.

"Ummm, I don't know," JJ thought it would solve the dilemma, but she really didn't know if they were ready for that yet.

"It was just a thought. But just so you know, I'd be happy to do it."

"Don't you have work?"

"Only if a case comes in, otherwise I'm completely free."

"Well what if a case did come in?" She asked. There wasn't a backup babysitter they could just call up.

"I don't know, but I could pull some strings, or use some of my personal days," Will really wanted to do it and JJ could tell he did.

"I couldn't ask you to do that."

"You aren't, I'm offering. JJ please. You know I just want to be his father. And I don't want my kid to see his nanny more than me," Will said.

JJ went silent as she mulled it over, it was a good solution, and it might be a good time and place to start. "I'm going to ask Henry what he wants," JJ said, and she walked back to her son's room, phone in hand.

"How do you spell 'was'?" Henry asked holding out his piece of paper. JJ looked over the attempt he had made.

"Not quite, its 'a.s' not 'o.z'."

"Oh," he said scribbling out his work. "W A S" he said writing it out.

"Hey buddy, how would you feel if your Dad came to stay here with you? While I went away."

"Just him and me?"

"Yeah," JJ nodded.

"Can you stay as well?" He asked.

"No, I have to go to work," she laughed.

Henry sighed, it would have been nice to be able to see both his parents. "Okay, that would be good," he said happily. One was better than none. Plus he loved the time he had been spending with his father.

"Did you hear that?" JJ said into the phone.

"Yeah, guess we have a lot to discuss," Will said, he was elated to hear his son's answer.

"Can I talk to him?" Henry asked.

"Quickly, okay," she said passing the phone to him.

"Hi Dad," Henry said into the speaker.

"Hey my favorite little man, did you have fun at school today?"

"Yeah, we got to watch a movie and have extended recess because the whole class did the worksheets that were sent home."

"Sounds like a good day."

"How long do I get to stay with you?"

"Well that depends on how long your Momma's away for," Will answered.

"Henry, can you pass me back the phone?" JJ asked.

"Mom wants to talk to you again," Henry said. "Bye."

"Bye Bud."

"Thanks," JJ said taking the phone back. "I'll come back soon," she said walking back to her bedroom. "Okay, I think to make it easier on all of us, you should stay here. Henry's stuff is all here, and it's close to his school, and I just feel it would make the transition easier on him."

"I think that's a good idea," Will replied. His place was only a one bedroom. He had started looking for something bigger so he could have a room for Henry, although between work and looking for something in his price range, finding a place was damn near impossible. "What time do you have to leave in the morning?"

"7:30 at the latest," she answered.

"Then I'll come over at about 7."


	17. Chapter 17

"Henry come eat your cereal," JJ called from the kitchen, and as she poured a glass of orange juice she heard her son come running out from his room. "All ready for school?" she asked as he sat down.

"Yeah," Henry nodded as he picked up his spoon. "When's Dad getting here?"

"Ahh," JJ started as she looked down at her watch. "Real soon," she answered seeing the minute hand getting close to the twelve. JJ joined her son at the table after she finished buttering her toast. After two bites she heard a knock at the door. "Keep eating," she instructed, standing up, as she saw Henry had began to lunge forward.

After looking through the peep hole, she opened the door for Will. "Morning," he greeted, walking in and putting his bag down.

"He's having his breakfast," JJ said before she started walking back to the kitchen. "Have you eaten?" JJ asked sitting back down to her toast.

"Yeah, I have," he answered before taking a mug out of the cupboard and filling it with the pot of coffee on the counter. "Hey little guy," Will said messing up Henry's hair before taking a seat.

"Hi Dad," he said happily as he finished his mouthful.

…

"Wow. We better get going," JJ said after realizing how fast the last half hour had gone. They should've left five minutes ago. Both JJ and Henry got up and headed to their bedrooms to get their bags before meeting Will at the front door. "You're going to need these," JJ said placing the spare keys in Will's hand.

"Thanks," he said as he opened the door.

"And, you might as well just keep them," she added as she pushed Henry out of the door in front of her. Will pulled the door shut and made sure it locked behind them, before following them down to the car. Will had to go with them to Henry's school, so the teachers knew who was going to be picking Henry up for the next couple of days.

After dropping Henry off, they got back in the car and drove to Quantico. It would have been easier if they had taken separate cars but they both had things to discuss about the next few days, and this seemed like the best, and only time to do it.

"So he usually goes to bed at eight thirty, but nine at the latest," When Will did come over on weekdays, he left before Henry went to bed.

"Okay," he nodded along taking mental notes.

"And he likes being read a story before he can fall asleep. He has a bookshelf full, just let him pick something out and read whatever he gives you. I did the shopping on Monday, so you shouldn't need to buy anything, but if you do, tell me what you brought and I'll pay you back," JJ explained.

"You don't need to do that, I'm not the babysitter. I'm the father," Will said.

"Right, sorry," JJ apologized. "Where was I?" She asked herself losing her train of thought. "Ah his morning schedule is basically what we did today, and he usually gets some worksheets or reading to do for school. He doesn't usually need that much help with them, just let him know you're there if he needs it. I'll call sometime this evening, and call me if you don't know anything…but I guess you can feel free to do what you feels right," she finished, trying to remember that he was the father, and he didn't need a play by play on how to do things.

"I will call if I need anything," Will said reassuring her. He knew it must have been difficult for her to co-parent when she had been doing it by herself for more than five years. He saw the effort she had been really putting in since he found out that he was Henry's father. She had definitely made the transition as simple as it could be. He knew he'd been foolish to think he could just jump all in, the pace they were going seemed right.

"Thank you," JJ smiled, as they took the last turn to get to Quantico.

…

"Did you have a fun today," Will asked as he met Henry in his classroom.

"Yes! It was Adam's birthday so his Mom brought in cake, and we got to have our own piece. And it was really cool because it was a dinosaur, and I love dinosaurs," Henry said happily.

"What type of dinosaur?" Will asked picking up his son's bag.

"A stegosaurus. Which isn't as cool as a pterodactyl or a T-rex, but still one of my favorites," Henry said jumping up and down. Will wondered how long ago they had been given the cake and if this was a sugar high, excitement that Will was picking him up, how he normally was, or a mixture of the three.

"What color was it?" Will asked as Henry took his hand and they started to walk out of the classroom.

"It was green, but the spikes were blue."

"How were the teeth? Were they sharp?" Will asked.

"They don't have big teeth, they only eat plants," Henry said. Will really didn't know much about dinosaurs. He knew the three Henry had mentioned but that would be the end of his knowledge.

"Guess I really don't know much about them."

"You should come to the museum the next time me and Mom go." Henry said looking up to Will hopefully. More outings with both his parents would be amazing.

…

"Can we have pizza for dinner?" Henry asked his father.

"Not tonight."

"But we always have it on Thursdays," Henry said. He was lying. He tried this whenever someone new looked after him. So far he had only convinced one person that this was actually the truth. He had tried it on Emily, Penelope and Spencer when they had last babysat. Emily and Penelope had seen through the lie straight away. Spencer luckily believed him. It was one of the reasons he like him to babysit so much.

"Even if I believed you, I've already started cooking," Will answered. Henry must have forgotten that Will came over mostly on Thursday nights, and they had yet to have pizza. He enjoyed the five year old's cheekiness though.

…

"How's everything going?" JJ asked. She was glad she hadn't gotten a panic call, that was her greatest fear when she went away on a case.

"So far so good," Will answered. He was surprised she hadn't called earlier, Henry had just gotten to sleep, but he had assumed she would call to say 'goodnight'. "He just went to bed."

JJ sighed, she had tried to call earlier but the press conference ran long and a new victim had been found, so it had been a full night. "How's he been?" She asked.

"Real good, did all the worksheets and some readings. He did however try to convince me to have pizza for dinner."

"He tried that on you?" JJ laughed, she had it to give it to the kid, he was determined.

"He's tried that on others?" Will asked surprised.

"Yeah, you can thank Spence for that."

"Please tell me the genius didn't fall for that."

"He did. Now Henry thinks he can fool everyone. I usually warn people, but I really didn't think he would try it on you. At least that's the worst he gets," JJ said.

"Yeah, guess we're lucky," Will replied, and JJ smiled at the use of 'we're'. "So how's the case going?" Will asked.

"We have a preliminary profile, but were still waiting for a break in the case. So I don't know when we'll be back yet. It could still be a couple of days at least," she answered.

…

Will rolled out of JJ's bed in the morning. It was the same one she had had when they were dating. He wondered if she still slept on the same side that she did all those years ago. Though all the things on the far nightstand suggested she did. She always slept on the left. No matter if they were at his place or her's.

He went to check on Henry, he wasn't sure if he was meant to wake the child up, or if he woke up on his own. He looked down at his wrist, seeing it was already seven, he guessed he best wake him up so they wouldn't be late. He slowly pushed the door further open before walking over to the bed.

He crouched down and softly shook Henry awake. "Time to wake up Kiddo," he said. Henry's eyes sluggishly opened as he yawned and rubbed at his face. "You need to get ready for school," he added, and Henry leaned up in his bed. "Come out when you're dressed," he said walking out of the child's room to go make breakfast for the both of them.

…

"The end," Will said shutting the book. "Goodnight," he said as he put the book back on the shelf and headed to the door.

"Dad?" Henry said getting his father's attention back, before he could turn out the light.

"Yeah?"

"Do you ever think we'll be a real family?" Henry asked quietly.

"What do you mean Bud?" he said coming back to sit on his son's bed.

"Like the other kids in my class, their Mom's and Dad's live together."

"And you think that's what makes them a family?"

"Yeah," he nodded shyly.

"A family is people who love each other, no matter where they live," Will answered. His heart was breaking. "And I love you," he said kissing his son on the forehead. "That doesn't change because I don't live here, okay?"

"Okay," Henry answered. He was happy with his father's response, but it wasn't what he wanted to hear. He wanted to wake up in the morning and have both his parents there. He wanted to be able to say good night to them both, and not via a phone call. He wanted the family that everyone else seemed to have, and it felt closer than ever before. "Do you love Mom?"

"Ah," Will started not knowing how to answer that, especially to a five year old. "Well that's complicated," he said truthfully, not giving either a 'yes' or 'no'.

"Why?"

"It just is."

"Mom says you did once, could you again?" Henry asked and Will internally groaned at the line of questioning his son was giving him.

Will didn't know how to answer that. He would always love JJ, but it was hard to forgive her for keeping Henry away from him. He didn't want to give his son hope, but then he didn't want to lie to him either, so he decided to avoid answering. "She told you that?"

"Before I was born, you two loved each other," he explained. Will thought he was referring to the time since he had come back into JJ's life to when he found out he was his father.

"We did, very much."

"Why can't you go back to that?"

"A lot has happened between then and now, it's hard to go back to that. But just because we aren't together, doesn't mean we don't love you. Okay?" He said smiling down to the boy.

"Okay," Henry said mimicking his Dad's smile.

"Now it really is time to get to sleep," Will said standing back up from the bed and kissing Henry on the forehead. He knew before too long Henry would be too 'old' to want kisses from his parents, so he was going to cherish the small window of opportunity as much as he could.

"Dad," Henry called as Will was about to leave the room. Will prepared himself for another difficult question that he wouldn't know how to answer.

"Yeah?"

"I love you," Henry said, it was the first time he had said it to his father. Will was overjoyed by the display of affection. He had hoped he would hear it soon but it was still unexpected.

"I love you too," Will smiled as he switched off the light and closed the door.


	18. Chapter 18

Will woke early, he felt weird sleeping in JJ's bed, he didn't know why; it was just a strange feeling to shake off. He walked quietly down the hall and slowly pushed Henry's door open to check on him. He was still sleeping soundly. Will then walked to the kitchen and put a pot of coffee on. He thought it strange that he hadn't heard from JJ last night, and when he checked his phone there were no missed calls or texts.

The coffee maker beeped and Will grabbed a mug out of the cupboard. "Please tell me you made enough for two," Will heard come from the living room. He turned around dumbfound to see JJ slowly sitting up on the couch.

"What? When did you get back?" Will asked still shock to see the blonde sitting there.

"Ah…One, maybe," she answered mid yawn while she wiped the sleep from her eyes.

"I didn't hear you get in."

"You were fast asleep," she said standing up and walking around the sofa. Will turned back around and took another mug out of the cupboard before filling it up for her. "Thanks," she said as he handed it to her. "Oh god," she gasped after taking a sip.

"What?"

"What? Nothing. It's great. Tastes just like the Bureau's," she said, however that was not a compliment. "How was my boy?" She asked taking a seat at the table.

"He was great. Though he does ask some tough questions," Will said joining her.

"Ah…What did he ask?" She inquired, though she wasn't sure if she wanted to know.

"If we were ever going to be a family."

"Oh," JJ said dejectedly, it was upsetting knowing Henry thought that way. Since Will came back into her life she couldn't help but think how different things would have turned out if she just told him. "What did you say?" She asked curious to know his answer.

"I told him that we were already a family, and that not all families look the same," Will answered. JJ nodded. It was a good answer, something she would have given him if he had asked.

"Good, that was a good answer," JJ said taking another sip. But she was really just taking time to gain the courage to ask what she really wanted. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Like mother like son," he laughed.

"I'm going to take that as a 'yes' and just ask anyway," she said, before taking a deep breath. "I've wanted to ask you this for a while, but there's never been a good moment. So um, here goes. Do you think there's a chance for us?"

"How do you expect me to answer that?" Will said surprised by the question. He had been thinking about that himself, especially after Henry's line of interrogation last night.

"I don't know, with the truth?"

"Yeah, there's a chance," he said pausing. JJ tried to hide her smile feeling like there was more coming. "But I can't tell you if it's a big chance or a small one. Because right now I'm still trying to trust you again," Will explained and JJ nodded along taking in what he was saying. It wasn't a no, but it wasn't a yes. JJ didn't really know what she was expecting to hear though. "Why didn't you call?" Asking his own hard question.

"I've told you," JJ said confused.

"No. You haven't. You told me you wanted to call. But you've never said why you didn't."

JJ took another sip from the mug and thought 'it's too early for this'. "I didn't call because I talked myself out if it so many times."

"What were you telling yourself?"

"That was six years ago, I don't remember exactly, but um-" she said thinking back to when she was pregnant. "I didn't want to have to rely on you, I mean I broke up with you, I didn't know how you'd react, and I didn't want to be together just because I was pregnant. And I kept telling myself I could do it on my own. I don't know if that's what you want to hear, but it's the truth and I'm not going to sugar coat it," JJ explained as best as she could. Maybe it didn't make sense now, but to her, it made sense then. "And you know what? I did do a good job on my own. And that's not to say we wouldn't have done a good job raising him up together. But I love that child, and there is no guarantee we would have him if we did do it together," she added. He could resent her as much as he wanted but she knew she was right, and she knew right then that she had to stop thinking about the 'what ifs'.

"Yeah but-"

"Mom," Henry said interrupting Will. JJ turned around to see her boy coming into the kitchen. She put the coffee mug down and slipped off the chair to be at her son's level.

"Come here," she said holding out her arms as Henry quickly ran over to his mother. "I've missed you," she said wrapping her arms around him and giving him a few quick pecks on the cheek.

"I missed you more," Henry replied as his arms closed around her neck.

"Not possible," she kissed him one last time before they let go of their hug. "Are we going to the park this morning?" she asked, though she was still a little tired so she didn't know what answer she was hoping for.

"Yes! It's Saturday," he answered like it was obvious. He had been worried that they wouldn't get their morning in the park, but when he walked into the kitchen he was so happy to see his mother sitting there. Both his parents were there when he woke up, it was exactly what he wanted.

"Then you better go get changed," she said tapping him on the butt. Before she could get back up Henry leaned up against her ear and whispered. "Why don't you ask him?" She said smiling.

"Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you want to come with us?" Henry asked smiling as he hoped his father would.

"I don't know, do I get a morning hug?" Will asked grinning.

"Yes," Henry said cheerfully as he quickly ran over to him.

"Yeah then I'll definitely come," he said. "But you better go get changed like your mother said," he said letting go of the little boy. Henry ran back to his room to go get ready for the park as per his parents instructions. "Where are we going?" Will asked.

"A park close by, there's a playground and a running track. And he rides his bike around while I run and then we go play when he gets bored of his bike," JJ explained.

"Sounds fun," Will said, he liked that he was going to be included in their weekend tradition. "Glad I can come."

"Are you kidding? It's great that you're coming," JJ said happily.

"Really?" He asked surprised by her reaction. Before Henry had walked in it had been tense. He couldn't believe their child could make them go from that to this in about a minute.

"Yeah. Because when he gets bored, you can go play with him on the playground and I can continue with my run," she smiled. She didn't even know the last time she was able to run properly. Henry usually had enough after about three to four laps in. "I'm going to go get changed," she said leaving the room.

Soon after she left, Will realized he probably should be getting dressed too, otherwise they would be waiting on him. He walked down the hall to get to JJ's room, to get his stuff. "JJ," he knocked.

"Yeah?" she called out.

"I need my bag."

"Oh, you can come in," she said and he opened the door and walked into the room.

"You know, I could have waited if you wanted to put a shirt on," Will said a little in shock as he saw JJ looking through her drawers wearing only a sports bra on her top half.

"Sorry?" She said confused looking down at her bare stomach. "It's not like you haven't seen it before," she muttered under her breath.

"I heard that," he said picking up his bag. "You look good," he said before leaving the room. JJ smiled as she continued looking for something to wear.


	19. Chapter 19

"So who's going to be there?" Henry asked from the back seat of the car, while JJ drove.

"You're Dad, and your grandmother," JJ answered. They were driving over to Will's apartment. Will's mother was in town to see her son but to also meet her new grandson. After about a couple of months of knowing about Henry, Will thought it was a good time for them to meet.

"But not Grandma?"

"No, Grandma is my Mom, it'll be your Dad's Mom."

"Are you coming in with me?"

"Ah, I can't," she said. "It's a family thing. But you'll be there with your Dad, so you'll be okay."

"Why can't you come if it's a family thing? We're a family?"

"We are, but-," she didn't know how to explain the situation to her son. "This way you'll get some more alone time with your Dad," she finished hoping that was enough explanation for him.

…

"So you have to be on your best behavior," JJ said at her son's level, as she fixed his hair. She wasn't worried, he was always well behaved.

"I will," he nodded.

"Good," she smiled before giving him a kiss on the cheek and then standing back up and knocking on the door. They waited for less than a minute for the door to swing open.

"Oh hi! You must be JJ," greeted a tall brunette. JJ was surprised to see her standing there, she was obviously not Will's mother. "And you must be Henry," she said looking down to the boy. "Will's told me so about the both of you." JJ had no idea who this woman was. It wasn't his mother and she was fairly certain Will said he didn't have a sister and Will wouldn't have had just a friend at a family get together. Her heart sank at the only other possible outcome for who this woman was. Girlfriend.

"Ah yeah hi, that's us," JJ said trying not to sound too frazzled. 'Why didn't Will say he was dating someone? Especially someone as pretty as her,' JJ thought.

Within a second Will came to stand next to her to greet them in. "Thanks Steph," he said, and she smiled and walked away. "Come here little man," he said bending down and Henry jumped up into Will's arms.

"Hi Dad," Henry said happily as his father swung his from side to side.

"Thanks for dropping him off," Will said to JJ.

"No problem."

"So what have you got planned for the rest of the day?" Will asked as he put Henry down.

"Well, I'm still waiting to hear back from Emily, but we'll probably end up going shopping or something," she answered.

"Oh," Will sighed, though JJ could tell there was more to it.

"Why?"

"Was just going to see if you wanted to stay and meet my Mom. Plus I'm sure Henry wouldn't mind knowing another friendly face," Will said and Henry's face beamed. And JJ knew that was a 'please stay' smile. "And you can go shopping Emily any day," he said with that cocky grin. If he wanted her to stay then maybe that woman wasn't his girlfriend, JJ hoped.

"Okay," she agreed not putting up a fight, she couldn't say no to those two boys. Though it wasn't everyday she could actually go shopping with Emily.

"Good, come in, I'll introduce you to everybody," Will said standing aside to let JJ and Henry in.

"Everybody?" She asked. She thought it was just going to be his mother, but then there was the girl who opened the door, so she really had no idea how big or small this was going to be.

JJ and Henry followed Will into the living room to see the people Will was talking about sitting on sofas and dining chairs. "This is my son- Henry," Will introduced as he placed a hand on Henry's back.

"Hi," he waved shyly.

"And this is his mother- JJ," Will didn't know if she wanted to be introduced as JJ or Jennifer, but it felt abnormal calling her Jennifer. "This is my brother- Matthew," he said going round the room. "His wife- Stephanie," he said, which also explained who the brunette at the door was, a complete sense of relief came over JJ. "Their son- Thomas," he said pointing to his nephew. He was a little younger than Henry, but not by much. "And this is my mother," he said pointing to the older woman.

"It's so nice to meet all of you," JJ said looking around the group, hoping she wouldn't forget anyone's names.

"Actually we've already met, dear," Will's mother said. JJ couldn't tell exactly but that tone didn't suggest joy that she was there.

"Oh, right. Sorry. That was a long time ago," JJ said trying to be cheerful.

"Yes, it was. Before you broke up with my son and didn't tell him you were pregnant," JJ's eyes almost popped out of her head at how forward she was.

"Mom," Will said warningly.

"I'm sorry," she said, but JJ could tell that she wasn't, so she faked a smile and tried to push it aside.

"Maybe Henry and Thomas could play in the other room. Some cousin bonding time," Stephanie suggested, and both JJ and Will thought it was a brilliant idea. Henry looked up to his parents and with a nod of approval he followed the other child.

Will walked over to the couch and after taking a seat JJ joined him. "So you work for the FBI? What exactly do you do?" Matthew asked, he, like his brother, knew what their mother was like and didn't want JJ to have to go through that.

"I work as liaison for the Behavioral Analysis Unit. We predominately work on serial crimes. So I work as a mediator between the team, and detectives working a case, families of victims, and the media," JJ answered glad the conversation was moving on, though she looked forward to it being off her.

"That's sounds like a handful," Stephanie added.

"Yeah, it can be. What do you both do?" JJ asked trying to move the spotlight on to somebody else.

"If I remember rightly, you travel a lot for your work," Will's mother said before the others could answer. "What happens with Henry while you're away?"

"He has a nanny," JJ answered and she watched as the woman's lips pursed in what looked like disgust. "But now sometimes Will takes him for the couple of days that I'm gone," she added hoping it would diffuse the moment.

"Do you think a lack of stability is good for raising a child? Look at Matt and Stephanie, Matt goes to work, while she stays home with Thomas and he is a bright young boy," she said obviously looking down on JJ parenting skills, though she had no firsthand knowledge on how well it had been working.

"With all due respect, you don't know Henry. He is an amazing child. And I make sure he has as much stability as possible, to avoid any problems that might come up for my absence. And that has made him more susceptible to change, which was needed when Will came into his life," she explained.

"Henry is a great kid, Mom. And you'll come to see that," Will said.

"That's all well and good, but all those things were only necessary because you kept Will in the dark about his child."

"That might be true," JJ tried agreeing with her, but she guessed no matter what she said or did would be good enough for her.

"Do you care to explain why you did it?"

"I thought I was doing the right thing, I know now I wasn't. I've made mistakes, and we're working together to fix them. And Will's the only one I care to explain my actions to."

"And she has. And I understand and I've forgiven her," Will added.

"Does it feel like it's time for lunch to anyone else?" Matt asked. He didn't like seeing his brother or JJ get the third degree from his mother, so anyway to move the day along was best.

"Yeah sounds about right," Will said. He looked apologetically over to JJ, knowing this wasn't what she thought she was walking into. He had no idea his mother was going to act like this, and if he did he would have instructed JJ to run.


	20. Chapter 20

After lunch all the adults went back to the living room, while the children went to play like they had been. "So if you've forgiven her, why aren't you together?" Will's mother asked. The questions hadn't even stopped over lunch.

"Six years is a long time, so we're not necessarily there anymore," JJ said answering. She didn't mind taking the heat for Will. His mother already didn't like her, what was one more nail in the coffin.  
"We're just trying to find a good balance working together with parenting, and neither of us are looking for anything else right now," she lied. In her mind it was less embarrassing than saying 'I want to be together but he doesn't'.

"That's right," Will said agreeing with JJ's story, he knew she was covering for him, and he silently thanked her.

"Oh, excuse me," JJ said looking down at her phone as she got up from the couch. "Hotch, hi," she said as she walked out of the room. A minute later Will went and followed her.

"Everything alright?" He asked seeing she wasn't on her call anymore.

"Ah no, I have to leave."

"You have a case?" He asked, though he knew what a call from Hotch meant.

"No. I faked the call," she admitted.

"Why?"

"I can't be here and be passively attacked by your mother. I know I had to justify my decisions to you, but I'm not going to explain why I did it, to someone who doesn't want to listen. And she's already made up her mind about me."

"Okay," he said, he could see it all along but knew JJ was strong enough to handle it in her own way. "What do you want to do?"

"I'll just say I have to go, and that I got a case. And you can just drop Henry off around seven?" She suggested, it was their original plan before he had asked her to stay.

"Yeah, that sounds good," Will answered, and JJ was glad he agreed with her. "You know I'm going to have to hear about this all weekend from her," he said.

"I know, I'm sorry," she said with sympathy.

"Eh, it's fine, I've learnt how to tune her out," Will joked. "Guess we have to go tell her."

"Mmmhm," JJ groaned as they walked back out. "I'm really sorry, but that was my boss. We got a case, so I have to leave. It was great meeting you all."

"What about Henry?" Will's mother asked, her tone said she didn't agree with what JJ was doing.

"Um well Will's going to drop him off around seven," JJ answered.

"Don't you have a case, dear?" She asked as if she was trying to catch JJ and Will in a lie.

"Not all cases take us away, so I won't know until I get there, and if I do happen to go away, then I'll call Henry's nanny."

"Why doesn't he stay here?" She asked, obviously still not thrilled that Henry had a nanny.

"Mom, there's no room here. You already got me sleeping on the couch," Will interrupted.

"So you would give up time with your child because you haven't got a bed for him? Back when you were his age you used to have sleepovers and sleep on the carpet with your brother."

"I'm not going to let Henry sleep on the ground when he has a perfectly good bed at home."

"You've said you've looked after him there before, so why not do it again," she said, and Will turned to JJ for help.

"Ah you can if you want to, I'm sure Henry would love it. But again I don't know if I'm actually going away yet, so, I'll call you when I know more," JJ said. It gave them a way out of the conversation right now, and they could discuss it later on, without his mother giving them both the stink eye.

"Yeah, that be good," Will said, spending more time with Henry away was great, but time away from his mother was an added bonus that would be hard to turn down.

"Okay, well then I really need to get going. Again it was nice to meet you all," JJ said as Henry ran in. JJ kneeled down to her son's level. "I have to leave, but-"

"For work?" he asked.

"Yeah," she hated lying to him, but she couldn't exactly tell him the truth without letting everyone else in the room know. "But your Dad will bring you back later, and could be staying with you. Okay?" she explained and Henry nodded. "I love you," she said kissing him on the lips.

"I love you too," Henry said.

"Be good for your Dad," she whispered, caressed his face and gave him another quick peck on the forehead before standing back up.

…

"Sorry, this is JJ," Will said excusing himself from his family. He had really thought having them up for a weekend to meet Henry was a good idea, but now not so much. "Hey," he answered when he was out of ear shot.

"How's it going over there?"

"She finally stopped talking about you about ten minutes ago, but I can bet ya when I go back in there it'll start up again. But she loves Henry, and thinks he's an amazing kid. So you can't be that bad in her books."

"That's something. So what do you want to do?" JJ asked.

"Well you know I love spending time with Henry, and getting away from my Mom sounds really good right now."

"So I have a case?" She asked keeping to their story.

"Yeah, I mean if you don't mind."

"No actually, it works out great," she said happily, but Will didn't understand why.

"What you mean?"

"Emily wants a girl's night out, and if you're there with Henry, then I can go. And God knows the last time I went out," JJ answered. She hoped Will would be okay with that.

"Yeah, okay. You deserve a night off," Will said. Though they both thought it a little weird, it felt like she was asking permission.

"Thanks. So I'll see when you come over," JJ said.

…

At half passed eight Will opened the door to JJ's apartments and the little boy ran in. He had texted JJ earlier in the day saying they would be coming back later. His Mom didn't see why they had to leave so early if he would be staying with him, Will couldn't be bothered arguing so he agreed. And JJ didn't have a problem with it, she wouldn't be leaving until 9:30 anyway.

"You look pretty Mom," Henry said as he found his mother.

"Thank you, my sweet boy," she said as Henry wrapped his arms around her. "Did you have a good day?"

"Yes," he nodded, "Thomas and I played some board games and then we watched a movie, and he's really cool, and then Dad cooked dinner but he burnt it so we got pizza," Henry said quickly.

"Sounds like a fun day."

"It was. Why'd you leave? You said you had to work?" Henry asked, and JJ wasn't sure if she should lie to her child again.

"I did, but we don't have to go away this time," she decided to keep up with the story for it was easier to explain.

"Yay," he said happily, he didn't want her to go away so soon after getting back from the last case.

"I think it's your bedtime," JJ said looking down at her wrist. "Go get your pajamas on," she instructed the boy, and he sighed before running off to his bedroom.

"He's right, you look beautiful," Will said as he stood in the doorframe watching the exchange between the mother and son.

"Thank you," she said sincerely. "You know me, I'm going to go pick up the guys," she joked.

"I do know you, and that isn't you. A guy will be calling himself lucky if he even gets a chance with you," Will smiled.

"Well thank you, but I'm not going out to meet guys. I just want to see my friends, have one or two drinks and possibly play wing-woman to Em."


	21. Chapter 21

Will sat on the sofa watching the TV at a low volume when he heard keys jingle in the door a little longer than they normally would. Getting up he walked over to the entrance way and was still surprised to see the door not a jar. Unlocking the door he opened to see JJ struggling with her keys. "Hey I got it open!" She said happily, not realizing that she hadn't done anything. "Oh hi," she said upon seeing Will stand there.

"Good night then?" Will smiled as JJ walked into the apartment.

"Yeah," JJ laughed as she played the night over, or really the parts she could remember. She brushed passed Will to get to her bedroom and Will followed seeing her stumble with her footing. "What are you doing?" JJ asked seeing Will following her into the room.

"Making sure you get to bed all right," he answered as she sat down on the bed.

"Well I made it," she said falling back and wiggling across to her side of the bed.

"JJ," he chuckled. "You can't sleep in that," he said as he went over to the dresser and found a pair of sweat pants and a tank top. It wasn't an easy find. He had to go through a couple of drawers before he found them. "Put these on," he said lifting her to sit up.

"Who are you? My mother?" JJ joked as she felt around her back for the dress zipper.

"Come here," Will instructed when he saw she was struggling to get it undone. JJ sighed as she turned around for him.

"Why are you taking care of me?"

"Because you're drunk."

"I am not, I'm totally sober," JJ argued.

"Do you know says 'they're totally sober'? People who are 'totally' not," Will said using JJ's words as he got the zipper down. "I'll be back in a minute," he said as he left the room for her to get changed. JJ slipped the sweat pants up under the dress before taking the dress completely off and putting her the tank top on. Will walked back in just as she got her top covered. "Here," he said handing her a glass of water.

"Thanks," JJ said as she took a sip from the cup before placing it on the nightstand. "Every time I close my eyes, it feels like the room is spinning," JJ said and Will just laughed. "It's not funny," she said playfully slapping him across the chest.

"It's a little funny," he replied. She didn't know why, maybe it was the alcohol or the fact that he was looking after her, but she moved her face closer to his until their lips met. Not feeling him pull away she continued. Suddenly a hand pushed her off. "JJ," Will said with a hand on her shoulder.

"Sorry," she apologized. She hadn't felt this embarrassed in a long time. "Just, sorry," she said again.

"You're drunk."

"Yeah," she said wiping her face. "I should go to sleep."

"That's probably best," he replied as he watched her lie back down. Walking around the bed he grabbed a pillow, turned the light off and closed the door.

…

Will left Henry alone in his bedroom to play, as JJ walked out of hers. She looked like hell, and she probably felt worse. He walked down to meet her. "How much did you drink last night?" He asked somewhat amused at the hung-over blonde.

"I don't even remember. I just know it was the second and third shot that made the fifth and six seem like a good idea," she groaned as she rubbed her forehead.

"What happened to one or two drinks?" Will laughed as he followed her into the living room.

"Penelope showed up," JJ said, falling back into the sofa knowing that was enough of an answer.

"You know that couch is not made for someone any taller than you to sleep on. I think it jarred my neck up," he said walking into the kitchen.

"You know you could have slept in the bed," she answered.

"But we know what could have happened and neither us want that," Will said he wasn't really sure if she remembered what happened last night, and he wasn't going to remind her.

"No, you don't want that," JJ said rubbing her eyes. She suddenly froze realizing what she'd just said. "I just said that out loud, didn't I?"

"Yeah Darlin," he laughed and she just groaned before lying into the couch.

"Why do I smell bacon?" She asked sniffing the air, that wasn't a normal smell for her place.

"Because I'm cooking you bacon," he said and JJ realized she could hear the sizzle from the kitchen. "Do you want some eggs too?"

"You're cooking me breakfast?" She asked dumbfounded as she sat back and watched as he moved around the kitchen.

"More like lunch," he joked seeing as she had slept in passed midday.

"Wait, I don't have bacon…or eggs," JJ said thinking back to the contents of her refrigerator.

"Then it's a good thing Henry and I went to the store while you were sleeping," Will explained and JJ got slowly back up and headed into the kitchen so she could be closer to the smells that were wafting from the stove.

"Where is Henry?" She asked looking around, though she guessed he was in his room.

"He's in his room, told him he needed to be super quiet while you were asleep," Will answered flipping the bacon over.

"Thank you," she said sincerely, it really seemed like he was trying to take care of her.

"Don't thank me yet, I also told him he could be really loud when you woke up, that you told me there was nothing you liked more than hearing him scream, laugh and run around the place," he said with a little too much cheer in his tone.

"Uhhh," she groaned and bent over to rest her head on the cupboard. With this headache she knew it was going to be a long day.

"So how much of last night do you remember?"

"I remember getting there, meeting Emily, then I think I got a taxi home. But the rest of the nights just a blur at the moment. I feel like I did something embarrassing, but I don't know what it was."

"Usually the things you can't remember are the things you don't want to remember."

"Yeah I guess. I don't even remember getting home. Or getting changed. Or getting to bed. Did I wake you up?"

"No, you didn't," he said as he put some bread in the toaster.

"That's good."

…

"You're looking better," Will said seeing JJ come out from a nap.

"Yeah two Advil, a gallon of water and however long that nap was, will do that to you", she answered. All she knew was she was never drinking again, and that she wasn't in her twenties anymore.

"Okay well now you're all good, I got to get going. If I don't get home, sooner or later my Momma's going to show up here, and we can't have that," Will said and JJ nodded.

"What are you going to tell her about Henry?"

"Just say he's at a play date or something, and when I can't put up with her anymore I'll come back and 'pick him up'."

"Text me if you'll be here for dinner," JJ said, and she actually had to stop herself from kissing him on the cheek. The whole day had felt so homey, that it just seemed like something that would be done. And then she remembered. "Wait, hold up. Last night, did we…did I-"

"Yeah, was wondering when you were gonna remember that," he chuckled, unlike JJ, he found this all very amusing.

"I'm so sorry…I was drunk," she said, though she knew that wasn't an excuse.

"It's fine, really. I probably should have pushed you away faster than I did."

"Why didn't you?" She asked curiously.

"Felt like old times, I guess," he shyly smiled.

"Yeah," she nodded understanding, their eyes locked and neither could say anything. It was like they were both playing their relationship back.

"I should go," Will said after the silence had lasted a bit too long. He headed to the door before turning back to JJ. "I'll see you later."


	22. Chapter 22

Will had stayed until Tuesday morning, he had dropped Henry off at school and then headed to the station himself. The weekend and the last few days had been Henry's absolute favourite. Both his parents were there. They were there to read his bedtime stories, they were there for breakfast, and they were there for dinner. He was a little upset when he found out his father had to go back home that day, he had hoped it could last much longer. But when he wasn't there for dinner that night, or been there to tuck him in, he knew the weekend was just a once off.

"When do I get to see Dad next?" He asked before JJ could start tonight's story.

"He'll probably be over sometime this week, just like normal," JJ answered as she flipped the cover of the book open.

"But why did he have to go back home?"

"He was just staying here while his mother was in town," she explained.

"Why?"

"Because there was no room at his place for him to sleep," JJ and Will hadn't let Henry in on the story of why Will had been staying with them.

"So he didn't want to spend time with us?"

"Of course he did."

"Than why isn't he here?" Henry asked sadly, and it almost broke JJ's heart.

"He had to go home at some point, plus he has work as well, so he can't be here all the time," she answered, she didn't know what else to say, how was she meant to explain this to a five year old properly?

"I wish he could."

"I know you do," she said kissing him on the forehead.

…

When Henry had gotten to sleep, JJ went to go work on some files in bed. She wanted to call Will and talk about Henry, but she knew how that conversation would go, so there wasn't really any point. After getting through two files she heard a knock on the door. JJ looked at the time, and didn't know who would be there so late. Rolling off of the bed, she headed to the entrance way and looked through the peep hole.

"Hey, what are you doing back here? Henry's asleep," JJ said surprised that it was Will at her door.

"That's not why I'm here."

"Okay? Didn't your Mom leave?"

"She did, I took her to the airport a couple of hours ago," he answered.

"That doesn't explain why your back then."

"My mother's a handful."

"Yeah, I kind of noticed," JJ laughed, she was glad the only interactions she had with her were on Saturday.

"She kept telling me my father would be ashamed of how I'm living my life," he said. They hadn't moved from the doorway.

"What? You know I didn't know him, but I know there is no way he could be ashamed of you. You're a good person, a good father, and a good detective. How could your mother say that to you?" If that's what Will's mother thought about her own son, she really didn't want to know what his Mom thought of her.

"She says I should do the right thing. That we should be together, for Henry," he said as he recalled his mother's words from earlier.

"Okay your mother is even crazier than I thought. There is no way that would make either of us happy. I don't want to be with you if you're only with me because of Henry. That's not I what I want."

"That's basically what I told my mother. Might have been a bit less polite than that, but that's what I told her."

"What did she say then?"

"Ah she was pretty much silent after that," Will said almost grinning as he rubbed his forehead.

"That's good?" She said, she couldn't think what else his mother could have had to say about them, she had been pretty vocal the entire weekend. "So why exactly are you here?" JJ asked confused. It wasn't like he couldn't tell her on the phone, and really he didn't need to tell her this at all.

"I got back to my place and it was so empty and quiet, that it gave me time to think. To think about what I really wanted," he explained, though he knew it wasn't a whole answer. As soon as he sat on the sofa in his apartment, he knew it wasn't where he wanted to be. Though it had taken a couple of hours to work up the nerve to come over and tell JJ that.

"What do you want?" she asked, she was filled with nerves and excitement, this could go either way. She didn't want to get her hopes up, but how could she not. He was standing at her door in the middle of the night telling her he wanted a change.

"I want you. I want us. I want to be together," Will answered, and JJ covered her smile with her hand. Was this really happening? She couldn't move, she was stunned. She had wanted this for so long now that it had seemed near impossible. Making sure the door was unlocked, she pulled it shut and stepped into the outside hallway with Will.

"You're not just saying this because of your mother?" She asked, she hoped for nothing more than for him to not be, that would almost break her heart more than she had his.

"No", he said, and she breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm saying it because it's the truth. We both know I never stopped loving you. I just needed time. Time to trust you again. Time to learn how to be a good father. Time to work out what I wanted. And you gave me that," he said slowly taking steps towards her. "I want to be together, you, me and Henry. And not because we have to be, but because we want to be. I want to give us a real try, if you want to."

"I want to," JJ nodded ecstatically, and ever so slowly the closed the distance between each other.


	23. Chapter 23

JJ intertwined her fingers around the back of Will's neck while he started to push her up against the door as their lips interlocked. They were both so into the moment that they didn't realise when they pushed the door open, and after noticing they were now in the apartment, JJ started to lead the way to her bedroom.

"Wait, stop," JJ breathed heavily. "Henry's here," she whispered as if it was obvious why they needed to stop, but Will didn't have the same train of thought as she did.

"Of course he is, where else would he be?" Will asked rhetorically, but still not understanding where JJ was going with this.

"No, I mean we can't go any further with him here," JJ said hoping he would realize what she was talking about.

"Right, walking in on Mommy and Daddy is one thing, this would be entirely different."

"Exactly, and he doesn't knock when he comes into my room," JJ said, he never had a reason to knock, and most of the time her bedroom door was open.

"And this would be the night he'd have a nightmare and want his Momma," Will said. Stopping seemed like a lot better idea than it did thirty seconds ago.

"Exactly. Plus he was upset before going to sleep, so it's more likely he'll have a bad dream," JJ said walking into the living room, with Will on her heels.

"Why was he upset?" Will asked as they took a seat on the sofa.

"He missed you. He wanted to know why you weren't here," JJ answered and she saw Will's face drop. "He just wants you here all the time," JJ said cracking a smile, her son's wish was the closest it had ever been to coming true.

"Guess we can tell him we're working on that," Will said taking JJ's hand in his.

"I think we should work out what this means before we tell him anything," she said, she was happy, but could still see this not ending well. And she didn't want to get Henry's hopes up and then crush them.

"I agree," Will nodded, he could see where JJ was coming from, and although they both knew they worked well together, there was still a lot to work out before they would be in a place of constant stability.

"So what does this mean?" JJ asked, wanting to know more for herself than Henry at this point in time.

"I don't know, but I feel like that's the first thing we should work out," Will answered.

"Where do we start from?" JJ asked, it wasn't like this was a normal situation. "I mean, we could start from where we were going to."

"I think we're so much passed just dating, don't you think?"

"Yeah," she agreed. It wasn't where she wanted to start anyway, but she wasn't going to push him, it wasn't too late for him to take it back. "What do you want?"

"What do I want?" he said before taking a moment to think. "Do you remember that Christmas?" Will asked and JJ nodded thinking back to the only Christmas they had spent together. They had been so happy then. They had spent the week together in New Orleans, the weather had been bad, so they barely left Will's place, and that was fine for them. That week would have been the best of their entire relationship. It was damn near perfect. "Well I want what we've had for the past few weeks and weekends, but mixed with that. What do you think?"

JJ was at a loss for words, she didn't know how to explain how great that sounded, but Will could tell by the smile on her face that she agreed with it. "That sounds really good," she finally got out. "But how do we get there?"

"It'll be work…but we'll make it work," Will answered, rubbing circles into her hand with his thumb.

"What do we tell Henry?" She asked.

"Tell him the truth. That I'm going to be around a lot more. Because I don't want to keep going home to my empty apartment and not wake up to both of you. Cause the last few days showed me what I'm missing out on and I don't want to miss out on any more than I have too. Not with you, or with Henry."

"How is it you know exactly what to say?"

"I have a way with words? But mostly because I've had a lot of time to think about it," he answered truthfully. Most of the time when he wasn't at work or with JJ and Henry he would think about it, think about how much easier it would be if he could just forgive her, and he was so glad he finally had.

JJ leaned in and closed the distance between their mouths, if you were to tell her that this was how the night would have ended up when she put Henry to bed, she would have gotten you committed. "You know you can't stay here tonight, right?" She whispered as their lips separated.

"I know," he said in the same hushed tone, before resuming the kiss.

…

"Dad!" Henry exclaimed happily when he saw his father walk through the living room. Will had let himself in with his set of keys to surprise the boy. Henry ran from the table to give his Dad a giant hug. It had only been a day and a half but he had really missed him. "Mom said you wouldn't be here for a couple of days."

"You don't want me here?" Will asked pretending to be hurt as he held his son.

"No silly, I want you here," Henry said giving his father a kiss on the cheek.

"Good, cause I'm here," he said walking into the kitchen still carrying Henry. "How you going Danielle?" Will asked greeting the nanny.

"Fine, thank you," she smiled. JJ had texted saying that Will would be coming over but Will had wanted to surprise Henry, so not to tell the boy the plan. "It's nice to see you again," she said. She was glad Will was now in Henry's life. Henry deserved a father, and it meant on occasion she could leave earlier, not that she didn't love spending time with Henry. "He's got some worksheets to do, and he said he had some notes for you or JJ to sign, which should be in his bag, and that's about it," she explained, giving him the afternoon run down and grabbing her bag to go.

"Thanks, have a good one," Will said as Danielle left the kitchen.

"You too," she waved. "Bye Henry."

"Bye Danielle," Henry said as Will put him back down. Henry took his seat back at the table and went back to his homework.

"So what do you think you and your Momma want for dinner?" Will asked going through the cupboards to see what they had.

"Pizza," Henry answered, well he didn't know about his Mom, but that was what he wanted.

"Kid, you got to get pizza off the mind," Will laughed, he obviously knew what his favourite food was.

…

JJ came home just as Will had finished cooking dinner, walking into the kitchen she was glad to be greeted by her two favorite boys. "Mom, look Dad's here," Henry said seeing his mother.

"I can see that," she said smiling down at her son's enthusiasm as she hugged him from the back and gave him a kiss on the side of his head.

"Hey Bud, dinner's ready, how bout you go wash your hands," Will instructed, and Henry groaned before getting out of his seat and running into the bathroom. Quickly before the boy could return, the couple came together and said a proper 'hello', one they hadn't done in more than six years.

"You still want to do this?" JJ asked, she didn't think he would back out, but she still wanted to give him that option before they got the child's hopes up.

"Of course I want to do this," he said giving her another quick peck on the lips and then pulling apart.

"Good," she smiled "So we'll tell him after dinner?"

"What's after dinner?" Henry asked coming back into the room and taking his seat back at the table.

"Your dad and I need to tell you something," JJ said as she began to pack away Henry's school supplies so there was room for the plates.

…

Following his parent's into the living room, Henry had no idea what they could want to tell him, he was scared it was going to be bad news, that they both had to go away for work, or worse his Dad was going to stop coming around. He had been quiet all through dinner, to which both his parents noticed. JJ and Will sat down next to each other on the sofa and JJ picked Henry up to sit on her lap.

"So, what we want to talk to you about is," JJ started when she had Henry's attention. "We know you want your dad here more, so we've been trying to work out a way for that to happen," JJ said trying to explain the situation as easy as possible for the five year old to understand.

"Really?" Henry perked up.

"Yeah, and we think we've come to a point where we can make that happen," Will added. "So if it's okay with you I'll be staying here a lot more."

"Like how it was on the weekend?"

"Yeah, like that," JJ answered and Henry's smile beamed.

"And you'll be here in the mornings when I wake up?" Henry asked as he tried to contain his excitement.

"The morning's as well," Will answered.

"With Mom?"

"I'll be here too, unless of course I'm away for work," JJ said. The more they answered the boy's questions the more excited he got. JJ and Will were both surprise he hadn't started jumping around in happiness yet.

"How long for?"

"Hopefully for a long while," Will said smiling over at JJ, to which she couldn't help but smile back.

"So in the morning, when I wake up, you'll be here?"

"I'll be sitting at the table eating breakfast just like you."

"Are you sleeping on the couch again?" Henry asked.

"Actually, your Dad is a little too big for it, so he's going to be sharing my bed, a little more comfortable," JJ explained and Henry nodded along.

"Okay," he said happily, he still couldn't believe his wish had come true. He gave both parents a giant hug to show his enthusiasm about the new changes. "We're going to be a real family," he said cheerfully as he bounced up and down on his mother's lap. JJ and Will shared a smile, no matter how many times the told the boy that they were already a family, it hadn't changed his view. But they silently agreed that they would indeed be a real family from now on.


	24. Chapter 24

Henry had not stopped smiling when he found out the news about his Dad staying over more. He had barely wanted to go to sleep that night, and even on less sleep than normal he was a ball of energy when he woke up in the morning. He didn't want to go to school and didn't want either parent to go to work, but even after the 'no' he got he was still over the moon. When each of his parents got home that evening he ran and gave them a giant hug before they could even shut the door.

"I could get used to having a kid like this," JJ said as she walked into the kitchen, with Henry by her side, though this wasn't far from his normal self.

"You and me both," Will replied as JJ came over to him, and they exchanged a quick hello.

"You cooked dinner again?" JJ asked, though it was more of a statement because she could see the saucepan on the stove.

"Yep, the boy wanted spaghetti."

"One night I'm going to get back before you, so you don't have to do all the work."

"I can't see that happening on a weekday," Will laughed.

"Then Saturday it is," she said giving him another quick peck. "Can you get washed up for dinner please, Hen."

…

"Mom can I sleep in your bed tonight?" Henry asked after he was in his pyjamas. JJ looked over to Will, she knew it wasn't a good idea, but those big puppy dog eyes were hard to say 'no' to, but she knew she had to.

"Well that's where you're Dad sleep's now," JJ said, and Henry's smile when down

"But he slept in your bed last night".

"And I'm going to sleep in there tonight, and tomorrow night, and every night I'm here," Will added.

"Plus, you only sleep in my bed when you have a bad dream."

"Okay," he said defeated. "Who's going to read my bedtime story?"

"Who do you want to read it?" JJ asked.

"Dad."

"You go pick a book out and get into bed and I'll be in there in a minute," Will said, and Henry walked to his room. "Are we going to bed?" Will asked JJ.

"Yeah. Sounds good. It's been a long day," she answered as they walked to the boy's room. Seeing their child already in bed, they walked in over to him. "Good night, my little man," JJ said as she kissed Henry on the forehead.

"Night Mommy," he said before his mother walked out the room.

Will took the book from his son's hand and opened up to the first page. Will was sure he had already read this to Henry ten times, or that Henry could probably recite it verbatim. But it was his favourite, so he would never not read it. "Okay, you ready?" Will asked taking a seat on the bed.

…

"I told everyone about us today," JJ said, and she could see Will's smile beam, even with the lights off. They lied in the centre of the bed, heads right next to each other's. Will's arm draped over her, pulling her in closer as his hand rested on the small of her back.

"Really?" He was glad, it had taken seven years for her to tell her team about their last relationship, so this was definitely a good step forward. "What they say?" He asked curiously.

"I got a lot of 'finallys'. Spence thought we were already together," JJ started.

"That's not surprising." Social relationships were never the genius' strong suit, plus he thought JJ would have played the last few months very close to her chest.

"Yep. What else? Uhh…Em was extremely happy and said 'she called it'."

"What?"

"Oh she told me I should go for you a couple of times," JJ said stroking Will's face.

"When?" He queried, he was curious to know if it was in the now or the then.

"In Miami, about a minute after you left", JJ answered and Will let out a small laugh of amusement. "And then again within a day or two of you bringing the case to us," she finished.

"We have someone rooting for us," Will smiled before placing a peck on JJ's lips. "Anyone else say anything?"

"Pen said that if we ever wanted some alone time then she would be happy to take the little guy off our hands."

"That'll be good for a night," Will answered. A night completely to themselves seemed so obscure and unlikely, that it was nice to get an offer.

"And that she wanted to meet you again, because last time she didn't think she came off well," JJ finished as she thought back to the time Will and Penelope met. JJ thought she came off as normal Garcia, but on a brief first meeting it could've been a little too much to take in at once.

"We should set something up," Will said as he slid his hand up JJ's tank.

"We should, but not tonight," she answered as her hands found their place around the back of his neck. She moved to close the rest of the distance between them. Will rolled onto his back bringing her along with him. Their lips came together as her fingers played with the tips of his hair and while his hands rubbed up and down her spine, ever so slowly moving to her front.

"Wait," JJ breathed as she pushed Will back. "I heard something," they both quickly pulled apart and turned to the door as it slowly crept open.

"I had a nightmare," Henry said standing with his fingers still on the door handle. JJ and Will shared a knowing look, they knew it wouldn't just be a coincidence that their boy happened to have a bad dream the same night he asked to sleep in their bed. "Can I sleep in here?" If they had any suspicions that Henry was lying, they didn't anymore.

Both parents looked back to each other, letting out a breath they smiled. "Come on up," JJ said. They shouldn't have been surprised, they had given him the key into their bed and how could he not use it.

Henry quickly ran over to the bed, with nothing but a smile on his face. He crawled up onto the bed as fast as he could, not caring about what was in the way. "Legs. They're my legs," Will called out as the boy climbed across and took his place in the middle.

"Sorry," Henry apologised and he snuggled up under the blanket. "What were you talking about?" He asked looking up to his mother and then over to his father.

"We weren't talking," JJ answered truthfully, and then realised it was probably better to lie in this situation.

"What were you doing?"

"We were uh, trying to get to sleep," Will answered, knowing what they were really doing wasn't appropriate for the five year old's ears. "Just like you should be," he added as he rubbed the child's stomach.

"Okay," Henry said as he let out a sigh, he wanted to hear the grownups conversation but didn't want to push it, he had already got one thing he wanted and they could easily send him back to his room, so he knew to be happy with what he had. Closing his eyes he tried to go to sleep and JJ ran her fingers through his hair, knowing it would put him to sleep faster.

They watched silently as the boy drifted off to sleep. When they were finally sure Henry was out they thought it was safe to start talking again. "He won't get away with this again," JJ said in a hushed tone. She wasn't mad at him, she thought it was kind of adorable, but it did put a damper on her and Will's alone time, to which they were yet to have a lot of.

"And we need to teach him how to knock," Will half joked. "And I think we should take Garcia up on that offer sooner rather than later," he whispered, and JJ tried not to laugh too loud.


	25. Chapter 25

At lunch time JJ headed out of her office to catch up with her best friend. Coming into the bullpen she took a seat on Emily's desk. "Lunch?" She asked as the profiler looked up.

Emily looked down at her wrist, and was pleasantly surprised to see the time. "Sure," she said standing up and wiping her hands on the side of her pants. JJ slid off the desk and they started walking to the elevator together. "Has this week been going slow or what?"

"I know, I want a case just so I can stop doing paperwork. Does that make me a horrible person for wanting a case?" JJ asked looking over to her friend.

"Only a little," Emily joked as they walked into the elevator. "But I would be lying if I wasn't thinking the same thing."

"Plus Henry's on break, so that's making me want to be home even more than usual." Henry's summer holidays had started the week before.

"Summer vacation…my favourite part of school," Emily said as the elevator doors opened.

"Yes, well Henry wants both me and Will home, and doesn't see why we have to work through summer."

"Ah, wouldn't it be great if we did get that sort of time off?"

"We'd go stir crazy," she said remembering back to maternity leave.

"Mmm," Emily agreed, three months sounded good in theory, but after a month she be dying to be back at the Bureau. "So how is everything going with you and Will? You've been together for a couple of weeks now?"

"I made a huge mistake."

…

JJ hadn't stopped thinking about her and Emily's conversation all day and night, and she barely got any sleep because of it playing over and over. Will could tell something was up, but knew she would tell him in her own time, though he had no idea what it could be, he just hoped it wasn't something bad.

"What's up?" Will asked after opening his eyes and seeing JJ sitting crossed legged and staring at him. He wondered how long she had been doing that, all he knew was it was a weird way to wake up.

JJ took a deep breath, she knew it was time. "Have you been back to your apartment recently?"

"Once or twice maybe…Why?"

"I think you should go back there tonight."

"What? Why?" Will asked, still not sure where this was going, but he wasn't liking it.

"And I would like the keys I gave you back as well."

"Okay, what is this about?" He asked, this was certainly not the conversation he wanted to have or thought they would be. But when JJ didn't answer, Will bent over the side of the bed and picked up the pair of jeans he was wearing last night and felt around the pockets until he found them.

"I was talking to Emily yesterday," JJ started as she saw Will begin to take the house key off the key ring. "And we were talking about you and me and it made me see things more clearly," she said and Will slipped the key into her hand. He should have fought to keep it, but he was still not 100% certain on how this would play out, it could still turn around, he was holding out hope, though everything she said and did made more slip away. "And I haven't been able to stop thinking about it, and I know what I want".

"Which is?" he asked timidly.

"I want you to permanently move in with us," she announced as she smiled at him while turning the key over and over in her hand nervously.

"I am very confused right now," Will said, which weren't the words he wanted to say, but that dramatic change of emotions made things a little harder to process.

"So?"

"Yes," he smiled. He could have pulled out his answer and tortured her like she had him, but he didn't want to play games he just wanted to say 'yes'. "Now can I have my key back?"

"Absolutely," she said giving it back to him.

"Why did you take it from me in the first place?" Will asked and he tried to put it back on the key ring.

"I gave you that key when you were just Henry's father. But now you're so much more than that," she smiled happily before leaning over to give Will a quick peck on the lips. "It's symbolic," she said not going completely back to her sitting position.

"It's the same key."

"But it has a different meaning."

"But it's same key," he grinned cockily.

"Shut up," she grinned before moving her mouth back to his.

When their lips parted, JJ rested her head on his chest like a pillow. She didn't know why she had been scared to ask him, she was certain she had known his answer, but the fear of rejection was hard to let go. "Why do I have to go back to my place tonight then?" Will asked after some silence.

"To pack up your things, and to bring whatever you can here," she answered as Will rubbed her upper arm with his thumb. "Though only if you want to," she said tilting her head up.

"Why tonight? You and I both have the weekend off, so far, why don't we go then and you and Henry can help," Will suggested, but JJ scrunched her face up a bit, she didn't like packing, she still had nightmares over when she moved to this apartment.

"I guess. Though I don't know how much help Henry will be," she joked.

"I'll work out some arrangements today," he said kissing her on the forehead. "If you don't mind me asking what was your conversation with Emily about?"

"_I made a huge mistake."_

"_What do you mean? What mistake?" Emily asked worried, what could possibly be a mistake? From as much as she heard everything had been going great, and JJ hadn't been happier than she had been in the past few weeks._

"_Not calling him when I found out I was pregnant, or really just breaking up with him."_

"_Oh," Emily let out a breath of relief. "Yeah, you did," she laughed. "But you're making it work now, and that's all that matters."_

"_I know, but I just can't help thinking 'what if'. We could have been like this for years. Henry could have had his father his entire life."_

"_All true, but you can't live in the 'could have beens', you just have to enjoy the now."_

"_I do, I really do, but it's just hard not to think about it."_

"_I know," Emily said knowing full well what she meant. "So how serious is it between you guys?"_

"_Very, I guess," JJ answered._

"_No, I mean are you going to get engaged, married or really live together anytime soon?"_

"_I don't know. We don't really talk about it, but we're taking it slow."_

"_Slow? It's been about seven years….how much slower can you guys get?" _

JJ paraphrased most of it, she didn't even want to bring up engagement or marriage, because that would be way too soon for them. "You know I love lying in bed with you, but we should probably start getting ready for the day," JJ said as she glanced over at the clock on the bedside table.


	26. Chapter 26

"Hey," JJ said taking a seat next to Will on the couch after she returned home for the night.

"How was your day?" Will asked after a quick kiss.

"We didn't get a case," she said glumly.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Will asked trying to work out why that didn't sound like a positive.

"It is."

"I can tell you really mean that," Will said sarcastically. "You have the weekend off, isn't that what you want?"

"Can't complain when I have a weekend off, but-"

"But what?"

"I just hate packing so much," JJ finally admitted. She had been full smiles everytime the subject had come up, but she was holding on to the hope she would get a case come across her desk and get out of it.

Will let out a breath of amusement. "What if I told you that after we pack everything tomorrow, we will be officially living together?"

"That's the only good thing that's coming out of it."

"What if I also told you that after we finish up, Henry has a sleepover with a school friend, and it'll be just you and me. Alone. All night," Will explained as he gave JJ a look that explained exactly what he was getting at.

"Okay, that makes it a little better," she said mimicking the smile that was across Will's face. "Umm where is Henry?" She asked realising she hadn't seen the blonde flash of lightning since she walked through the door.

"In his room," he replied like it was obvious. "He was making something with Danielle when I got home, didn't want to show me what it was though. And then she left and he continued working on it."

"Am I allowed to know what it is?"

"Maybe, he was just very specific that I wasn't allowed to see it. But he might have the same reaction to you."

"I'll go check on him soon," JJ said. It was a nice change not being bombarded as soon as she got home. She wanted to enjoy it while it lasted. She rarely got time to relax. "How was your day?"

"I got everything sorted out with my place. Once we're all packed up and out of there, just got to hand over the keys and then it's all done. The landlord already has another tenant lined up."

"That was fast," she said shocked, she expected a little bit more trouble.

"Someone else in the building just moved out and they had a few people want the apartment, so really good timing."

"I'll say. When do you have to be out of there?"

"By Wednesday, so if we dont finish on the weekend I'll switch my roster around," Will said and JJ nodded. "We should probably get working on dinner."

"Yeah probably," she was starting to get hungry. "You start, I'll go check on the boy," she said and they both stood up and walked into the kitchen. Will started looking in the fridge while JJ continued on to their son's room.

JJ knocked on the closed door. "Dad you're not allowed to see," Henry called out.

"It's not Dad. Can I come in?" JJ asked still standing on the other side of the door.

"Mom," he smiled happily not knowing she was home. "You can, but Dad can't."

"Dad's in the kitchen," she answered pushing the door open. Looking down on the floor she saw a little bit of a mess, but it could be easily cleaned up when he was finished. "What's this?" She asked.

"I'm making something," he said proudly.

"For your Dad?"

"Yep," Henry nodded. "But you can't tell him, it's a surprise."

"I won't. Can you show me?" She asked sitting down on the floor to be at Henry's level.

"I wanted to make him something that showed how happy I am that he's coming to live with us. Danielle helped me cut out the shapes and with the writing, but I did everything else myself," he said as he showed her the collage he was so proud of.

"This is really amazing Henry. He's going to love it," she smiled looking over the artwork.

"I'm almost finished."

"Do you want any help?" She offered but he shook his head. "Okay, I'm going to help your Dad with dinner, call out if you need anything, okay?" She said standing back up. She looked over Henry's work one more time before leaving his room.

...

JJ begrudgingly got out of bed the next morning. Henry had come into their room and jumped on the bed to remind them that it was Saturday and Saturday meant going to the park. With all the plans they had made for packing, both JJ and Will had forgotten the weekend tradition. But there was no saying 'no' to that kid so within a half hour they were out the door.

After a short time at the park they drove over the Will's place. They didn't know how Henry was going to be able to help but he was eager to do anything they needed. They had just planned to pack as many boxes today and then tomorrow they would move the furniture to a storage container as there was no real room at the apartment.

"Where should we start?" JJ questioned as they Will unlocked the door.

"I've got boxes in the storage room," they were from when he moved to D.C. knowing they would come in handy one day. "So, I'll go down and get those and then one of us and can start in the kitchen and the other in the bedroom and Henry can help whoever's in the bedroom?" Will suggested. It was probably best not to have the 5 year old working with anything breakable.

"I'll work on the kitchen," JJ said, it was going to be easier if Will worked in his own bedroom because she wouldn't know what would be packed for storage and what was being packed to take back home with them.

"So you'll work with me bud," Will said to Henry and a smile beamed across his face. "I'll go down and get the boxes," Will said and turned back around to leave.

JJ walked around the apartment. She had only been here once really, but she never had a proper look around. It was a nice place. If it wasn't a one bedroom they could have considered moving in here.

...

"Where were the boxes?" JJ asked coming into the bedroom. She had filled the half she had taken.

"Down in the basement. I can go down a get them if you want."

"No, you keep packing," she said. And Will gave her the rest of the instructions on where they were.

After ten minutes and not hearing JJ come back, Will got curious as to where she ended up. "Do you want to come look for your Momma?"

"No," Henry said shyly, the basement wasnt a place he wanted to go. Will hummed and hahhed trying to make a decision. Either leave his son alone and go look for JJ or just hoped she didn't get too lost and would be back soon.

"Do you think you could stay here, while I go look for her?" He asked, and Henry nodded. "Just keep doing what you're doing, and I'll be back soon," Will grabbed the keys and pulled the door locked behind him as he left the apartment.

"What are you doing down here?" JJ asked as she saw Will come into the storage room.

"I could ask you the same question," Will said surprised she hadn't come straight back up with the boxes.

"I got sidetracked," she admitted. There were filled boxes already in there and she didn't know if these were thing's Will would want to keep or not. She wasn't going to open any until she saw a box marked 'JJ'. She didn't know if she wanted to open it or not and that was what she was deciding when Will walked in.

"I can see," he said seeing what had stolen her attention.

"What's in it?" JJ asked.

"I don't remember. Open it?" He had actually forgotten he even had that box. So he was just as interested as she was.

Peeling back the tape and unfolding the flaps the stale air escaped. Upon seeing the contents Will remembered what was in the box. It was all the things JJ had left at his place after they had broken up. He was going to send them back to her but he never got around to it. He didn't know why he had packed it when he moved or why he hadn't got rid of it earlier, but he never had the heart to. It would have meant it was truly over and he couldn't accept that, not even after seven years.

"My phone charger," JJ said happily as she started to riffle through the box. "I spent so much time looking for this when I lost the other one," she started to pull it out of the box and Will just laughed. "What?"

"You have a new phone. That thing is useless."

"Oh yeah," she laughed. "What else is in here?" She said putting the cord back in the box. "Make up," she said a little grossed out. Another thing to throw out. "Couple of shirts, pajama pants," she wasn't sure they would still fit, but if they did she'd keep them. She could feel something more at the bottom of the box and she pulled it out from under everything. "Photos," this was the first thing she was really surprised about. There were about 30 or so prints of the two of them, from a small holiday they took, from Christmas, from going out with his friends, from their birthdays. All from that year. All from when they were happy.

A tear fell from JJ's eyes. She couldn't believe she was seeing these again. She thought they were gone forever. Some of these memories she couldn't even remember. She had deleted all the photos of them off of her phone a couple of weeks after they had broken up. She immediately regretted it when she found out she was pregnant. But holding these in her hand was surreal.

"You have to stop doing things that make me really regret everything I ever did," she said after going through the stack of photos.

"Alright," he agreed "Do you want to bring the box upstairs with us?" He asked wiping the tear from her cheek.

"Yeah."


	27. Chapter 27

"Oww," JJ said walking into the bedroom. She had been on a case for the past few days and all she wanted to do was crash into bed and not into boxes. She didnt want to wake Will and thought it was a good idea not turning the light on and just feeling her way around the bed, but obviously not.

"Ah sorry Cher," Will said sitting up in bed and turning on the bedside lamp after hearing the crash.

"I thought you were going to finally get around to unpacking these," JJ complained. It had been about a month since Will had officially moved in, but boxes were still filling their bedroom, and the apartment.

"I know, I ran out of time," he said as he rubbed his eyes.

"You couldn't find a half hour?" She asked taking clothes out of the dresser.

"I had an idea."

"You had an idea?" JJ asked as she pulled the tank top over her head. "What sort of idea?"

"A big one."

"How big?" She asked nervously.

"Well," he said in a tone that suggested it wasn't small.

"I don't know if I like the sound of this," JJ sighed taking her place in bed. "Okay, what is it?" She said bracing herself.

"What if I didn't unpack the boxes?"

"Why would that be a good idea?" She asked confused.

"I was thinking we could start looking for a new place to live," Will said and he watched JJ's face carefully. He knew it was out if the blue, but it was something he had been thinking about for a while.

"Ahhh," JJ didn't know what else to say.

"You don't have to make a decision tonight, I'm sure you've had a long day."

"Is there any reason you want to move?"

"It'll be nice to live somewhere bigger, a place that can be completely ours," Will explained.

"What's wrong with this place?"

"Nothing. It just reminds me that I didn't always live here, it might be the unpacked boxes, it might be a feeling that will pass, but wouldn't you like to live somewhere new, somewhere bigger?"

"How long have you been thinking this?"

"I don't know, at least a few weeks. I just didn't think it was the right tine to bring it up until now. So what do you think?"

"Can I sleep on it?" JJ asked. He raised some good points and she definitely wanted him to feel at home. But this was her and Henry's home. Right now she couldn't imagine living anywhere else.

"I didn't expect you to make a decision tonight," he said.

"Thank you."

"I'm glad you're home," Will said as they both lied down. Putting his arm out he pulled her into him.

"Me too," JJ agreed and placed her lips on Will's.

"How was the case?"

...

"Mom," Henry called jumping up onto the bed, while Will watched from the doorway.

"Morning," JJ groaned, though she was happy to see her boy.

"You said you wanted to be up by nine," Will chuckled.

"I said that before I remembered how comfortable a real bed was," JJ muttered. That dinky little motel they had stayed in for the last few days had a spring poking her right in the back.

"Did you sleep on it?" Henry asked. JJ looked a little shocked, she expected that to come out of Will's mouth, not their five year olds'.

"Did your father ask you to say that?" She asked, she really didn't think Will would talk about this with Henry without her, or before she had made a decision. Henry nodded. "Can you tell him something for me?" She asked wiggling her finger to bring him close enough to whisper in his ear.

"Mom says 'Give me a break, I just woke up'." Henry said turning back to his father and copying his mother verbatim. "What are you talking about?" He asked curiously.

"Nothing," Will answered. "How 'bout you go and let your Momma get ready for work," he suggested, and Henry reluctantly got off the bed and left the room.

"Did you tell him anything?" JJ asked, as she too got out of bed and stared making it. Will began to help.

"Of course not. I guessed we'd see how he felt after you made up your mind. Talk to him together."

"Good, I wouldn't want him to get his hopes up," she said picking up an extra pillow from the floor.

"So you think anymore about it?"

"Can I give you my answer when you get home tonight?" She asked walking around to where Will was standing.

"Only if you dont take another case and you wait up for me," Will answered. He was working the late shift, and usually JJ would be in bed by time he returned home.

"Deal," she said giving him a morning kiss.

...

Hotch had given the team the morning off as they had had a late night. They all had been working on paperwork from the last case since getting in.

"Will wants to move house," JJ said while she and Emily went to get lunch.

"That's new."

"He brought it up last night after I got home."

"So it was out of nowhere?"

"Completely. He said he had been thinking about it for a while, but I don't know how long that really is. It's not the kind of thing you just jump into without thinking about it."

"That's for sure. So what do you think about it?" She asked.

"I don't know. I told him I would give him an answer when he got home tonight."

"And you don't know how to answer him."

"I don't."

"Why not?" Emily asked. To her it seemed like an easy decision. "You either want to or you don't."

"It's not that easy."

"Of course it's not," Emily said sarcastically. "Didn't you always say you wished you could give Henry better? Well this could be the something better," she said and she could see JJ's face change seeing a new point.

"It'll be a lot of work, even just finding a house we both like is enough of a head spin. But packing up the apartment and moving, we'd never find time to get it done."

"If you really don't want to do it, then that's fine, but if its something you do want, you need to forget about the work it'll take and think of the outcome," Emily said, and JJ kind of hated her for making everything seem so much simpler than she did.

...

Will came into the bedroom to see JJ reading a case file in bed. "It's the weekend, you know you don't have to do all your homework on Friday night," he said leaning across the bed and pecking JJ's lips.

"It's either this or sleep, and I said I'd wait up," she explained as she closed the file.

"So?"

"Let's do it."


	28. Chapter 28

A couple days had past since JJ had given Will the answer he'd been hoping for. And even Henry was on board with the move. So on a rare quiet night they were all cuddled up in bed on the laptop looking at houses.

Henry vetoed any house that didn't have a pool or a tree house. JJ optimally wanted a classic Victorian look, but would give that up for a backyard and a larger closet. And Will just wanted to make his child and his girlfriend happy, and a place he could put a barbeque. They knew they wouldn't be able to find it all, well the adults did anyway, but looking at these houses and playing pretend was fun.

Henry had fallen asleep in-between his parents a while ago, and neither one wanted to move his sleeping body. "So, my Mom called today," Will said in a hushed tone so not to wake up the boy.

"That doesn't sound good," JJ said remember her last encounter with Will's mother. "What did she want?"

"Just to check in, see how I am, see how Henry is," Will started but JJ could tell his mother didn't ask about her. "And wanted to know when I was coming back to New Orleans this summer," Will finished not remembering any other major talking points.

"What?" JJ asked, this was the first time she had heard anything about a trip to Louisiana.

"Every summer, since I moved to D.C. I've gone back a visited for a week or two. To see my Mom, my brother, the guys at the station. I hadn't got around to telling her I wouldn't be coming down this year," Will explained, and JJ could bet his mother would ultimately blame her for that.

"Good. I'd rather see my mother," JJ said with some sarcasm in her voice.

"We should," Will said, he hadn't seen JJ's mother since she introduced her to him all those years ago.

"That wasn't a suggestion," she said as she furrowed her eyebrows.

"Why not? Take a weekend drive up to Pennsylvania. Family roadtrip?"

"So on one of our very limited and rare free weekends you want to see my mother, instead of looking for our house and packing this place up?" JJ asked rhetorically.

"Okay," Will conceded. "No mothers."

"No mothers," JJ repeated happily.

"Just please tell me she know about us," Will said, he didn't think JJ would have fallen back into her bottle up everything and hide from it ways, but he could never be too sure.

"She knows about us," she said as she pecked Will on the lips and closed the laptop lid. "Do you want to take the little guy to his room?"

"Sure," Will said as he slipped out of the covers and slowly picked up his son.

...

"Morning sweetie," JJ said tussling her hands through Henry's hair while he sat eating his cereal.

"Morning," Henry said incoherently with a spoonful in his mouth.

"Here you go," Will said handing JJ a freshly brewed cup of coffee.

"Thank you," JJ said gratefully taking it from his hand. "Oh my god," JJ said after a sip.

"Bad?" Will said looking hurt, he thought he was making some headway with how she took it, but maybe he should just give up and let her make her own in the mornings.

"No, it's actually good. The best you've made...ever," JJ said happily and Will couldn't help but smile. She kissed him quickly on the lips before taking a seat at the table. "Guess we can keep Daddy around," JJ said cheekily to Henry.

"Good, cause I was worried there," Will joked as he placed a plate of toast on the table and took his own seat. Henry laughed and smiled at his parent's banter.

"Danielle wants to talk to us this afternoon," JJ said taking a slice off the plate.

"The both of us?" Will asked and JJ nodded mid chew. "What about?"

"She didn't say," JJ answered after swallowing her mouthful. "What time will get home tonight?"

"Should be by five."

"Okay, I'll try cut out of work early, so not to keep her waiting," JJ said out loud as she planned the day. With a bit of luck she and Will would arrive home simultaneously.

...

"How far away are you?" JJ asked on the phone to Will while she sat in the car.

"Actually not that far," Will answered via the car's Bluetooth as he pulled into the apartment's parking lot.

"Good timing," she said looking in the rearview mirror.

Seeing him park, JJ took her bag off the front seat and opened the driver's side door. She leaned against the trunk of the car until Will came over to her. "Good day?" He asked after a short kiss.

"A little slow, you?" JJ answered taking his hand in hers and walking into the building.

"Yeah, same old."

Unlocking the apartment door the couple walked in and were soon attacked by the five year old. Picking up his son, Will carried Henry back into the living room with JJ right behind them. "How about you continue watching your movie while Momma, Danielle and I talk in the kitchen," Will said putting the boy back down.

"Okay," Henry agreed, pushing play on the remote, while the grownups all took a seat at the table.

"So I'm sure you've been wondering what I wanted to talk to you about," Danielle started.

"Yes," JJ said.

"I'm giving you my two week notice," Danielle explained, and JJ's face dropped.

"Why?" She asked confused.

"My Dad's sick, so I'm going to be heading back home to help my Mom out," Danielle answered, and she could feel tears forming. It was a mixture of worry for her father and having to tell JJ, Will and Henry she was leaving. JJ reached out and took Danielle's hand to comfort her. "I love working for you, and Henry's a godsend. If it wasn't for this I probably would never leave. You two are amazing parents and you both do such good work helping people, I can't think of a better family to work for."

"I'm sorry about your father," Will said. He hadn't known Danielle for long but he knew how much JJ and Henry loved her and she would be missed.

"Did you want to tell Henry, or do you want to tell him together?" Danielle asked. JJ couldn't even imagine finding a better nanny than Danielle.

"We'll tell him," JJ answered, though she didn't know how Henry would take it. Danielle had been in his life since before he would remember.

"Okay," she said standing up. "I better get going. Thank you for being understanding."

"I going to miss you," JJ said standing up as well and pulling the nanny into an embrace.

"Me too," Danielle said back. Pulling away the two women smiled sorrowfully at each other. "I'll see you tomorrow," she waved as she left the kitchen. "See you tomorrow Henry," she said as walked passed the sofa.

Seeing that JJ could do with another hug, Will pulled her into his arms. "It'll be alright," he said comforting her.

"How? This is the worst possible time," she said, it wouldn't have been so bad if they weren't planning on moving or if it was during the school year, but it was, and she couldn't even remember where to start looking for a new nanny.

"What if I took the rest of the summer off?" He said leaving the hug, though his hands where still on JJ's hips. "I could stay home with Henry, save us from having to find someone so quickly. I was already planning to take some time off when we found a place, so it won't be too much of a change," Will suggested.

"Really? You'd do that?"

"Of course, I'd love to spend more time with the kid. And it would make looking for a place easier if we didn't have to work around two full time schedules."

"Okay, if you want to, it's a good idea," JJ said. She was thankful for having Will in her life, she couldn't imagine having to do this alone.

"How do you think he'll take Danielle leaving?" Will asked, a little worried how this would effect the boy, but he knew Henry handled change well.

"A lot better knowing you'll be here instead."


	29. Chapter 29

"So as you can see this house has everything you're looking for and is perfect for a family," the realtor said as she showed JJ and Will round the place one more time. Henry was at a friend's house for a sleepover, but he had already seen the place, and although he loved it and had already picked out which room would be his, he was a little upset that the house was missing both of the two things he wanted. But Will had promised that a tree house would be an easy task, and they could build one together if he wanted.

JJ was in awe of the house, or really the size of the walk in closet and en-suite the master bedroom had. The house had a nice sized kitchen, which she could imagine Will and herself cooking dinner in most nights, a dining room, that she could picture all three of them sitting around the table eating breakfast, three bedrooms, the spare would be used as a study so she would no longer have to work on her case files in bed. As she walked around the house she could see where each piece of furniture would fit, and how they would decorate it.

They had seen a lot of houses since they started looking six weeks or so ago, but this was the only house that, didn't look like it would take years to renovate, wasn't out of their price range, and had mostly everything they were looking for. "When will we hear if our offer is accepted?" Will asked the realtor.

"Shouldn't be too much longer," she answered. They had put in an offer a couple of days ago, they just really wanted to see the place again, to make sure they weren't making a mistake.

Although they loved the house they weren't putting all their hopes into it being theirs. They we're fairly certain another couple were looking at the house, and their offer was a little below asking price. All the financials were set and worked out. Will's time off had really been a good idea, because aside from not having to look for another nanny and giving him and Henry so quality one on one time together, Will had been able to get a lot of the paperwork completed faster than they would have been if both he and JJ were working full time.

...

They had been home for an hour, just sitting watching a movie on the sofa. Although watching a movie was common, watching a movie without an animated snowman was a rarity. JJ was cuddled up into Will's side, and his arm reached across pulling her in closer. Slowly they heard the sound of vibrating. JJ hoped it wasn't her phone, a case right now would be extremely bad timing.

Looking over to the kitchen table JJ could see her phone not lit up. "It's not mine," JJ said breathing a sigh of relief. Pausing the movie Will rushed to the bedroom where his was on charge. JJ could hear Will talking to someone, but couldn't make out what he was saying. Within a few minutes Will was walking back into the living room. "Who was that?" She asked, she hoped nothing was wrong with Henry.

"The realtor," Will answered not giving much else away.

"And?" She asked nervously, this was either the call they were hoping for or the one they really weren't wanting.

"They accepted our offer," he said a smile filling his face.

"What!" JJ exclaimed jumping up from the sofa. "Are you serious?" She asked covering up her smile with her hands as she walked over to him.

"She said the owners didn't care that it was under asking, they wanted the house to go to a family."

"I can't believe it," she said almost at a loss for words. JJ wrapped her arms around Will's neck as he pulled her into him. "We have a house," she whispered in his ear.

"We have a house," he repeated.

"We should celebrate," JJ said pulling slightly away so she could see Will's face.

"I think we have a bottle of wine," he answered.

"I was thinking a different kind of celebrating," she said raising her eyebrows.

"Oh," he grinned realising where her train of thought was at. Their lips crashed into each others, and Will slid his hands down JJ's thighs and lifted her up, spinning the both of them around they made their way back to the bedroom, their mouths not parting.

...

They were getting the keys today. Finally all the paperwork had gone through, there had been a little hassle, but nothing that took more then a week to solve. Everything that needed to be done to get the house in there name had been done, and they could start moving the boxes in when ever they wanted to.

They had started packing the day after they heard the house was there's. Although they both knew it would still take weeks to months until they were able to move into their new home. Half the apartment had been packed for weeks. JJ had gone into super organised mode, yes this was the same JJ who hated packing and whose office looked like a tornado had been through within the last hour. But she didn't want to leave it all on Will's shoulders. He had done so much of the paperwork and chasing up lawyers and everybody else, that she knew this shouldn't be left to him as well.

She had forgotten truly how difficult packing was when you still had to live in that place for however long, but compared to her last move this was far simpler in comparison, maybe it was Will's help, maybe it was Henry not being two, maybe it was her excitement of moving into a house that was truly theirs, maybe it was all three.

"Henry, how are your toys going?" JJ called out to her son from the kitchen. Henry hadn't wanted to pack them so early. It was understandable seeing as it had been summer but now he was back at school and they were moving that weekend. After not hearing an answer she went in and checked on her boy. "Henry, the toys go in the box," JJ said seeing him moving a truck along the carpet. Henry had wanted to help with packing, like he had when Will packed up his place months ago, so JJ started him on something easy.

Henry hid the truck behind his back, not hearing his mother come in, and thinking he was in trouble. "They are," Henry half lied, he had put away some before he got distracted.

"Do you want some help?" JJ offered.

"No," he said shyly, placing the truck from behind his back in the box.

"Well your Dad will be back soon, and I want the box full by time he does," JJ somewhat ordered.

"Okay," he said picking up another truck.

"If you do need help I'll be in the kitchen," JJ smiled before leaving the boy's bedroom.

JJ picked up the box she had just finished packing and took it over to the rest of the packed boxes. The living room had become the designated dumping zone for everything that was ready to be moved. Some piles were taller than Henry, which in realty was only three boxes high, they were trying not to make them much higher but they were running out of room fast.

Feeling hungry and looking down at her watch JJ realised how close it was to dinner time. Heading back into the kitchen she looked in the refrigerator and the pantry and then back in the refrigerator. There was nothing to cook, and even if there was there was nothing left to cook with.

Taking her cell out of her pocket she dialled Will's number. "Hey babe, do you want pizza tonight? Because it's either that or sandwiches," she said flatly.

"Yeah sounds good, do you want me to pick it up on my way?" Will asked.

"Yep, I'll call up now then, just the norm?"

"Yeah, I should be home in a half hour then."

"Okay, love you," JJ said before hanging up. "Hen, your father will be home in half an hour," she called out giving her son a timeline to get his packing done.

After ordering JJ went round the apartment to see what else needing packing that could be packed, but everything was still needed. She couldn't believe she was done for the night. She went into her bedroom and fell flat onto the bed. She was exhausted. It had been a long week at work and even longer when she was at home. Though she knew the work was far from done. On Saturday, Emily and Morgan were going to help move furniture while Penelope babysat Henry. It was going to be easier if the five year old wasn't running under everyone's feet.

Before JJ knew it she heard Will's keys in the door, standing up from the bed she got a slight head rush feeling, but shook it off quickly before meeting Will in the hallway. "Someone order a pizza?" Will joked, kissing JJ on the lips.

"We should order from this place more often, the delivery guy is hot," she smiled as they walked through the living room and Will placed the pizza box on the kitchen table.

"Ready for tomorrow?" Will asked.

"As ready as we can be. Everything work out okay?"

Will nodded as he pulled something from his pocket. "We officially have the keys to our house," he smiled as he dangled them in front of JJ before dropping them into her hand. There were 5 different keys on the key ring, and she was excited to find out what each opened. Balling the keys up into her fist she hugged Will and placed a peck on his cheek.

"I can't believe tomorrow's the day, it feels like only yesterday our offer was accepted," JJ said pulling away.

"This whole year's gone fast, wish it would slow down," Will replied as he opened up the pizza box.

Normally JJ would have pulled plates from the cupboard, but she had packed them in the second to last box. She looked around for napkins but they were even less likely than a plate. "Henry," she called out. "Dinner." Within ten seconds the boy came running out of his room. A smiled filled his face when he saw what was lying open on the table. "Did you finish your box?" JJ asked, and Henry nodded. "Good, go wash your hands," she instructed before he could take a seat. "I can't believe we move into our house tomorrow," JJ smiled.

"Believe it," Will said squeezing JJ's side and placing a peck on her forehead.


	30. Chapter 30

"I told you I would do that?" Will said just after getting back from the store. JJ was hanging decorations up for Henry's 6th birthday party that afternoon. They had decided to have the party here because they had just finished unpacking everything and, though they had been living in the house for a month, they wanted to have people over to see their new home, plus it was cheaper than renting out a space.

"I know, but you weren't here and it needed to be done. And it's not like I couldn't do it," JJ said taking Will's hand to steady herself before stepping down from the ladder. "Did you get everything?" She asked, Will had gone to get the few last supplies needed for the party.

"I did," he answered as he started to go through the bag in his hand. "Tylenol," he said passing her the container. "How you feeling?"

"Exhausted, I really just want to go back to bed, and this headache won't go away," she answered as they headed to the kitchen. JJ had been working on Henry's party for a few weeks now, and although she knew how difficult it was to plan any date so far in the future, she had promised Henry that even if she had to go away Will would be there and they would celebrate just the three of them when she returned. Thankfully no cases arose for the weekend.

"Well that's why I'm here to help," Will said as he stopped JJ in the hallway. "You might have done this all before, but this is my first time, so you got to let me do everything I can, and make a big deal out of anything."

"Okay," she smiled lovingly in defeat. JJ knew Will was excited, but this was damn near adorable. They slowly kissed before walking into the kitchen.

"You know I have no idea what I'm doing, right?" Emily said seeing the couple walk into the kitchen. Emily had offered to help, she just didn't know that meant preparing food, and she was definitely not a chef. Standing beside her was Henry, though he wasn't much of a chef either, he much prefered stealing ingredients while Emily wasn't looking.

"It's okay," JJ laughed before taking a glass out of the cupboard and filled it with water before opening the container of Tylenol.

"Are you feeling okay?" Emily asked surprised to see the painkillers in her friend's hand.

"What? Yeah I'm fine. Just a little headache," JJ answered quickly. Emily looked her over trying to detect a lie.

"Oi," Will said catching Henry placing a piece of chocolate into his mouth. Henry looked up nervously knowing he had been caught. He was scared until he saw his father cracked a smile and take some chocolate as well.

"That's for decorating the cake," JJ said once she saw what her son and boyfriend were doing.

"Sorry," Henry apologised.

"Yeah sorry," Will said with a cheeky grin plastered across his face.

"How about you two go finish up in the other room," JJ instructed.

"Come on Hen," Will said crouching down for Henry to climb up on to his back. "Call us if you need help," Will said standing back up and taking two more pieces of chocolate, and handing one up to Henry. Both giggled at the faux scowl JJ was giving them and they turned to leave the kitchen.

...

At twelve the party guests started to arrive, Henry had invited ten other children from his class. JJ and Emily stood by the front door waiting to greet everyone as they came in. Will was in the back room with some of the other parents, they watched as their kids screamed in joy when they saw another one of their friends outside of school. Even from the other room JJ could hear the cries of excitement and knew her headache wouldn't be leaving any time soon.

"Hey," JJ said happily seeing Hotch and Rossi coming up to the house, Jack had been invited to. Henry and Jack had a BAU parent bond, even with the age difference they were good friends.

"You have a beautiful house, Carina," Rossi said placing a peck on each of JJ's cheeks.

"Thank you. It's not the Rossi mansion, but we love it. I'll give everyone a tour later," she replied.

...

Once everyone arrived, the kids had been left to games, some parents joined in. Some mothers had formed a group and were sitting and gossiping. JJ had never been close to Henry's friend's mothers, mostly because she worked full time, but also because she got the feeling like they looked down at her because of it. She might have made more of an effort with them today if her own friends weren't there.

"No, she never told him about Henry," JJ heard as she walked passed the living room, where the mom's were located.

"Then how did he find out?" Someone else asked.

"I don't know, but I bet it was a shock when he did," the first mom added. JJ just laughed and rolled her eyes as she walked away, let them think and say what they wanted, it didn't matter.

JJ stood by the food table, a handful of popcorn at her mouth as she watched the kids and Will run around the living room. She smiled seeing both of her boys faces happily playing. She stuffed the popcorn into her mouth before grabbing another handful and walking back over to the team.

"Woah, next time bring the bowl," Emily joked and JJ sat down.

"So, should we be saving a date anytime soon?" Penelope asked and JJ choked on the piece of popcorn she'd just put in her mouth.

"Why?" JJ asked confused as she looked around the group.

"A Wedding?" The technical analysis singsonged.

"Oh," JJ let out realising what her friend was going on about. "No," she answered shaking her head. "We've talked about it, but no, we're not there yet. One step at a time."

"A step at a time?" Emily laughed out. "You've jumped a thousand steps."

"Yeah, Rossi would have been married and divorced by now," Morgan joked.

"Hey," Rossi feigned hurt.

"Well if anything, we're engaged to be engaged," JJ said a little unsure if that was the best description, but it did fit.

"So no wedding?" Penelope asked deflated.

"I'm sure they'll be a wedding one day, but that's so far in the future, we're just focusing on what's happening now," JJ explained.

"What's happening now?" Hotch asked.

"You know, just settling into the house," she covered.

...

"Hey," Will smiled seeing JJ walk into the fun zone. Putting his arm out JJ slipped into a side hug.

"You look like you're having fun?" JJ said.

"I am," he breathed heavily, it was nice to catch his breath, keeping up with these kids was a lot work.

"Cake time?" JJ asked as she whispered in his ear so the kids wouldn't hear. Will nodded in response.

"Hey!" Will called out, and all the kids stopped. "Who wants cake?"

"Me!" The twelve kids screamed out in unison.

...

Bringing the cake out, candles lit, Will placed it in front of the birthday boy. Everyone started singing 'Happy Birthday' as the flames flickered. Emily had offered to take photos so the two parents could enjoy the moment. Will came to stand behind JJ, turning to look at him, they quickly kissed, before looking back to their son. Hugging JJ from behind they watched as Henry blew out the six candles. Who would have thought this was where they would be the last time Henry blew out his birthday candles? Everybody cheered and started clapping while Will's hands slid down to JJ's small hidden bump.

**I hope you enjoyed this.**

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